Government of Cameroon put at Rest on Fears of Supply of Domestic Gas

By Abdul Rahman Suagibu –

New Africa Daily News, Freetown, Sierra Leone- After a meeting between officials of the Ministry of Trade and Marketers, it emerged that; the SONARA fire incident will not affect supply as preventative indicators have been taken.

No increase in the price of domestic gas or shortage is envisaged across the country, the Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mborga Atangana has assured. He gave the assurance in Yaoundé on Tuesday 11, 2019, after a meeting with domestic gas marketers, the sector’s regulator and officials of the Ministry of Trade. Minister Luc Magloire insisted that, all brands of cooking gas will continue to sell at the approved price of FCFA 6,500 per 12.5kg bottle.

Tuesday meeting was as a result of the May explosion of a storage tank at the National Refinery Company (SONARA) which provoked the shutdown of the facility’s main refinery in Limbe. But Minister Luc Magloire has said, the incident won’t affect the steady supply of the fuel as much of the cooking gas used in Cameroon is imported. He landed marketers for the “patriotic engagements” they have taken. Okie Johnson Ndoh, General Manager of the Hydrocarbons Price Stabilization Fund (CSPH), said all engagement are being respected by marketers.

“We have been working on importation of domestic gas and all is well”, Okie told reporters. He called on marketers to sensitize their distributors so that they give some time to the marketers to do self-price control, after which a joint control team comprising officials of the CSPH, the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, as well as those of the Brigade of Control and Fraud Repression in the Ministry of Trade will descend to the field to ensure the respect of 2,000 metric ton of domestic gas imported in 2018 was still available.

For 2019, Tradex has an important quota of 20,000 metric ton, Total has 15,000 metric ton and BOCOM has 10,000 metric ton. According to Perrial Jean Nyodog, President of the Union of Petrol Professionals (GPP), who is Director General of Tradex, they as marketers are up to the task to ensure that no shortage is recorded.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Suagibu Reports,  Africa Correspondent

www.newafricadailynews.com