DVLA unable to exercise regulatory authority over LPG operated vehicles.

Ho, Aug 19, GNA-The Volta Regional Director of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Mr Joseph Osei Agyeman has expressed worry about the DVLA's inability to exercise regulatory authority over Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) operated vehicles in the region.

The conversion of petrol and diesel run vehicles into LPG powered ones is "anybodies business," without stipulated standards, he said. Explaining the situation to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Ho on Tuesday, Mr Agyemang said the Authority lacked the equipment, technical capacity to verify the technical correctness of the adaptations, and only conducts visual examinations to pass such vehicles for roadworthiness certificates instead of gadgets to check the state of valves for leakages.

He said the situation was grave, considering the increasing number of commercial vehicles, particularly taxis that were changing over to LPG.

Mr Agyeman said under the regulations, the DVLA must be given notice of adaptations to vehicles for documentation.

"Unfortunately Vehicle Owners had tipped "the regulatory" leverage in their favour, in case of changeovers to LPG, to the detriment of safety standards," he said. He said as things stood now, the DVLA had no means of ensuring that only mechanics with the requisite competencies carried out those adaptations. Mr Moses Davor, Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) said though the Union discourages its members from using LPG as fuel, it could not stop them since there was no law banning its use. He agreed that the LPG powered vehicles posed threats to travelers and inconvenienced them because of LPGs combustibility and the limited number of fuel stations that sold that fuel in the region. Mr Davor said there was some level of laxity in safety assurance measures generally regarding the use of LPG. He noted that the practice now was for food vendors at public transport terminals to use LPG for cooking amidst the hustle and bustle at the terminals. There is a growing trend for commercial vehicles; especially taxis to convert their petrol-powered vehicles to LPG to enable them make appreciable sales in the light of the rising fuel prices. The trend has become so popular in the Ho Municipality that it was common to see long queues of mainly taxis at LPG selling points in the municipality whenever LPG is supplied to those stations, to the inconvenience of domestic users.