The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it is normal to have fuel stations situated within communities.
[contextly_sidebar id=”mJdSFJL7lCm9CPNESe2flxK7MF8MvRq1″]The Volta Regional Director of the EPA, Togbe Akliku Ahorney said the location of fuel station in communities is aimed at making their services accessible to the public and not tenable to relocate them.
Togbe Ahorney’s comments come on the back of the fire incident at the Goil Fuel Station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, which reportedly killed 150 people on Wednesday, June 3.
Some residents in Ho for a year and over have been blaming the EPA for giving certification for fuel stations to be sited in communities and near public places, such as hospitals.
Togbe Ahorney said the Kwame Nkrumah Circle incident was “purely an accident” and could not be used to argue for the relocation of fuel stations.
According to him, the stations were supposed to operate with disaster mitigating equipment such as fire extinguishers and insisted it was unnecessary to relocate them.
He said it was time the populace appreciated “hazard points and try to live with them.”
On the celebration of the World Environment Day, Togbe Ahorney urged Municipal and District Assemblies in the Region to ensure that sand weaning for building projects was done sustainably in their districts.
He said sand weaning remained the only challenge degrading the environment.
Source: GNA