The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketing Companies Association have called on government to scrap taxes on Liquified Petroleum Gas.
“The Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketing Companies Association wants government to as a matter of urgency remove all taxes on the Liquified Petroleum Gas,” the Association said in a statement.
According to the association, taxes on the product have made the product less attractive to many Ghanaians; a situation they believe is an obstacle to the government’s goal of making free and environmentally friendly LPG accessible to more than 50% Ghanaians by 2030.
In a separate interview with Citi News, Vice President of the association, Gabby Kumi said the existence of taxes on the product has given market advantage to unhealthy fuel alternatives as against LPG.
“This call is in support of government’s objective to increase access to LPG from the current 25% to 50% penetration level by the year 2030. We support government on that call and believe it is a noble call but we strongly believe that, the strongest enemy to that call is the price of that product. We are dealing with a product that is price sensitive, which means that if you raise the price of the product, you will push people away from consuming the product.”
“Government should lower the taxes so that the price of the LPG will also go down so that we can attract more consumers,” he said.
In May last year, LGP retailers went on a nationwide strike to protest government’s decision to implement that cylinder recirculation module.
The gas operators have long kicked against the programme, indicating that it was inconsiderate and will lead to the collapse of their businesses.
The President of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Operators Association, Torgbi Adaku V, in a Citi News interview, said the planned strike was to be observed nationwide until the government listens to their concern.
LPG marketers and gas tanker operators all kicked against the module which they say will destroy the gas retail industry they have built over the last 25 years.