The residents vowed to resist any attempt to site the facility near the market claiming a number of activities involving the use of fire take place at the said location and a fuel station could put the lives of people who patronise the market at risk.

The traders and residents, clad in red and black attires on Monday morning, poured onto the streets amidst chanting to protest against the erection of the facility.

They held placards with inscriptions; “Prevention is better than cure”, “NADMO, had I known is always at last” and many others.

The protesters have warned that their fears stem from the recent gas and fuel explosions in parts of the country that have claimed a number of lives and left many others injured.

One of the traders said “When the June 3 disaster happened in Accra, we saw the casualties, so we do not want something similar to happen here. We are appealing to the authorities as well as the President to stop the owner from putting up this facility”.

Another trader said the facility is very close to where some of the traders fry and sell ‘Bofloat’ and that siting such there could be a recipe for disaster.

The traders have mentioned one Nana Asante as the person behind the setting up of the facility.

They are appealing to the Bekwai Municipal Assembly, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the owner from continuing the project.

Efforts to get the owner to respond to the claims by the traders have, so far, been unsuccessful.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Anwiankwanta traders protest siting of fuel station near market appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The students have been protesting the siting of the fuel station since January 2017, claiming that it poses a threat to their lives.

They however ignited the protest today [Monday],  following the gas explosion that occurred at Atomic Junction last Saturday, killing 7 and injuring 132 others.

The management of the University of Professional Studies, UPSA, has backed the action by the students.

According to the head of environmental safety at UPSA, Maxwell Buaka, the top priority for the University’s management was the safety of the students, and that the Strategic Energies Limited (SEL) station at the site threatens that safety.

He said they have made several efforts through various stakeholders for the fuel station to be relocated, but authorities have failed to listen to their cries.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post UPSA students demonstrate against ‘dangerous’ fuel station [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Current figures from the petroleum industry show that, prices of the two products at the various fuel stations have hit all time high, with petrol selling at an average of GHc4.29 at the pumps, and diesel going for an average of GHc4.23 per litre, as at the third week of September 2017.

The Institute of Energy Security (IES) had earlier predicted a 7% increase in fuel prices.

The increase has been attributed to the marginal depreciation of the cedi, as well as increased global crude oil prices due to the recent floods in the US which affected production at major oil companies.

The Principal Research Analyst at the Institute of Energy Security, Richmond Rockson, said “We are expecting prices to rise between seven and ten percent and this will have an impact on consumers.”

“This probably will be the most significant. The cedi also keeps depreciating. After the storm Harvey, refineries were affected so prices will definitely go up,” he added.

Petrol and diesel are the most patronized fuel products in Ghana, and any increase usually affects transport fares and impacts cost of general goods.

Sharp dip

Prior to the sharp surge in the price of fuel in September, data from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), showed that petrol and diesel only increased marginally between February and March, but dropped significantly between April and July until it gained momentum in August 2017.

Below is an infographic of the price change in petrol and diesel since January:

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Melvin M. Clottey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Fuel prices hit all-year-high [Infographic] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The fuel station (Dukes Petroleum) which is located on the Koforidua Nkurakan main road at Ada close to the municipal office of the Ghana Water Company Limited is sandwiched between more than 22 residential properties serving as home to hundreds of residents.

At the 1st ordinary of the 2nd Session of the 7th Assembly of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly with the new Municipal Chief,    Comfort Asante, the assembly members debated furiously on the construction of the filling station.

Some members questioned the competence of the directors at the assembly in the role they played in allowing the said construction of the filling station in the first place.

Iddrisu Abubakari Beewasa, a member of the Assembly called for an immediate revocation of the permit issued to the owner of the filling station, adding “we are all in this country when a naked fire from a domestic user close to the circle filling station caused havoc and damage to properties and lost of lives, and like it happen in La. This will be a bad precedent,  So I am calling on the assembly to  revoke the permit or the property should be used for a different business like a super market or something else.”

Other assembly members also argued for the owner of the filling station to start operation because he has already completed the project and has invested heavily in the project.

Another member, Kwaku Ankomah Asare however disagreed saying “I was not a member of the assembly then when the project was approved by the statutory planning committee but I remember at one of the statutory planning meetings I questioned the procedural structures because the owners did most of the construction at night when residents were asleep. I am really against the sighting of that filling station I must say.”

The Municipal Chief Executive of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, Comfort Asante in an interview with Citi News said “I must admit this issue has been a challenge ever since I took office, I wasn’t here when the go ahead was given to the owner  but the issue now is at REGSEC so we are all waiting from them.”

Close sources within the Regional Security Council (REGSEC)  say they are also equally divided on this same issue.

Meanwhile the Regional Environmental Protection Agency is yet to renew the licence of Dukes Petroleum while the Regional National Fire Service Command is strongly of the view that the area is not suitable for the filling station.

Citi News checks at the location of the filling station revealed that all is set for the owner Dukes Petroleum to start full operation as he has managed to secretly filled underground tanks with fuel, having fixed 4 fuel pumps already.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post E/R: Assembly members divided over filling station appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The owners have therefore been given a two week to provide all necessary documents covering the approval and execution of the project in the community which is near completion, despite several protests by residents over safety concerns due to its location.

The fuel station is being built close to residential facilities, and at the base of the T-Junction linking the Techiman-Wenchi Highway, and therefore poses a threat to life and property in the community.

It is unclear what might have instigated the latest move by the Municipal Security Committee, but residents in the past weeks have demonstrated their frustrations about the development, and called on the President to intervene to prevent another 3^rd June disaster in the town and its surrounding communities.

The residents said it was dangerous for authorities to allow a fuel station to be sited in a residential area, and called on the Municipal Assembly, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to act fast to prevent any calamity.

Citi News can confirm that the danger posed by the fuel station in the event of an explosion, will not only be limited to residents of Nkonsia alone, but scores of commuters and passengers who patronize that stretch of the road daily.

Speaking to Citi News, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Dr. Prince Kwakye Afriyie, confirmed the order and explained the safety concerns of persons living close to the site and the need to protect them.

“This came up during my familiarization tour of the district after my confirmation as MCE, and so when I got to Nkonsia, this issue came up. So we called for an emergency Security Council meeting to address the issue. Anybody who knows the area knows it’s an accident prone area. Actually, it was a family that was living there, but because it had several cars crashing into the house, the people evacuated the family from the place and left the plot as a buffer zone. My brother, when you take a look at the Techiman-Wenchi-Wa Highway and on reaching that point in Nkonsia, it’s a slope from Techiman and another slope from Sunyani forming a T-Junction thereby causing numerous crashes”, he explained.

He therefore issued a stern warning to the developer and construction workers to vacate the area until further notice.

“We are a listening government, we listen to what the people want and this is a genuine concern even to the developer to protect his investment. So it is in his interest that we bring finality to this impasse which has been going on for decades. We therefore, directed that he produces his building permit, NPA permit and EPA documentations for us to examine. Residents should therefore be rest assured that we will bring finality to this matter and their rights protected. We will not sit unconcerned for another calamity to happen in Wenchi”, he emphasized.

On his development initiative to boost development of the Municipality, Dr. Kwakye Afriyie said his vision is to reposition Wenchi as a Service Town by tapping and developing the areas tourism, agricultural, health and cultural potentials for socio-economic development.

Owners of the facility were not readily available for comment at the time of filling the report.

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By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post BA: Security Council halts construction of fuel station appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This model sees SAP’s partners directly licensing the software and then offering applications directly to clients as a service.

Nosmay delivers application, infrastructure and enterprise solutions to its customers, with the goal of assisting organisations to use technology to stay competitive, increases their profitability and driving their growth.

In an interview with citifmonline.com, Communications Consultant at Nosmay, Adelaide Ntow said “Through this partnership Nosmay will be able to better address the lower and upper end of the Ghanaian and West African markets with a subscription based cloud offering that will drastically reduce the cost of operations for our customers and will also enable us to scale our operations, be more competitive and drastically increase the reach of SAP within West Africa.”

According to a recent forecast1 from market research company International Data Corporation (IDC) titled “Worldwide Spending on Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016”, the hosted private cloud services market will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 50 percent between 2012 and 2016.

“Our MCaaS model is yet another example of the choice that we are providing to our partners. It opens the door for some partners to engage with SAP in a way that makes sense for their business. Partners have told us that it’s a great approach to help them tap into operating expense budgets, to create differentiated solutions based on SAP software, and to maximise revenue from their own intellectual property by targeting a much broader market than might otherwise be possible,” says Richard Edet, MD of SAP West Africa.

SAP Africa is planning to make greater investments with the aim of providing its MCaaS partners with additional support that includes business development resources. The latter will help match partners with the right opportunities, allowing them to grow their business.

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nosmay provides SAP cloud service for Ghanaian businesses appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.