DAYO AYEYEMI and ADETOLA BADEMOSI report that efforts by the Lagos State government and the Department of Petroleum Resources to curb gas explosions have still not yielded maximum success due to different reasons.
Fuel tanker explosions are frequent and very common all over Lagos, but so are gas explosions since many fuel stations have added selling domestic cooking gas to their line of business.
Since the beginning of this year it has been a tale of one tragedy after the other in Lagos as gas explosions have claimed several lives and properties just as it seems there is no end to the series of calamities befalling residents of the state arising from this.
By the middle of March early in the year, there was an explosion at a gas processing plant in Abule Ado area of the state. At least 15 people were reportedly killed while about 50 buildings were destroyed as a result of the explosion.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the explosion resulted from the impact of a truck hitting some gas cylinders stacked in the gas processing plant situated near the corporation’s pipeline.
The explosion brought down several storey buildings, damaged NNPC’s pipeline and caused the corporation to halt its pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline.
Barely two weeks after, a similar explosion in Iju-Ishaga area of the state left 40 people injured and buildings destroyed.
September and October would prove more tragic with gas explosion killing scores of people at Baruwa and Iju-Ishaga areas. It was as if the tragic incidents were on a free fall until the state government decided to step in.
The first step taken by the state government was that it would no longer grant planning permit for the siting or construction of gas plants within the residential areas in the metropolis.
This decision, according to the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Idris O. Salako, was to put a stop to the tragic losses recorded across the state in recent months.
“The ministry will not allow siting and construction of gas plants within residential area any longer. We are shutting down existing gas plants. We are also collaborating with safety commission in this area,” Salako told reporters.
He added that in the next six months, the state authorities will be preparing action area plan to take gas plant out of residential areas and also come out with requirements for siting gas plants in the state.
He reiterated that the ministry is engaging the safety commission and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to make their inputs in the plan.
Reacting to the new policy on location of gas plants in the state, some town planners who spoke to Sunday Tribune expressed mixed reactions over the issue.
According to Mr. Dotun Oladimeji, a Lagos- based settlement expert, rather than an outright ban, the state government should limit location of gas stations to the existing petrol filling stations around residential areas.
He decried proliferation of gas dispensers within thick residential neighbourhoods, saying such practice posed danger to the people and the environment.
He alleged that some of the mini gas station dispensers handle their operations with levity by not paying attention to safety standards.
Principal partner, MOA Planners Limited, a town planning firm, Moses Ogunleye, said with the high rate of urbanisation, there was no way gas stations would not be located in residential areas, provided the necessary laid down rules are followed.
According to him, the best option for government is to ensure that both operators and residents take precautionary measures to avoid gas explosion and disasters.
It is recalled that when gas explosions were becoming incessant in the state in 2017 as a result of non-compliance with standard safety measures, the administration of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode placed an embargo on the construction of gas and petrol stations in the metropolis.
The embargo was later lifted in 2019 with the approval of the implementation of a reviewed guideline detailing the requirements to be met by operators seeking planning permits for filling stations and gas plants in the state.
The state government, at the time, said with the reviewed guidelines, investors intending to embark on development of gas plants and petrol stations, including existing operators, should strictly comply with the provisions of the reviewed templates.
“Investors are enjoined to apply for planning information from the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development before embarking on any development.
“This will allow them have first-hand information about the kind of development that can be done in a specific area of the state,” government’s report read.
New guideline
Under the new guideline, a person seeking to open a petrol station on the highway would require a land size of 2500sqm and above and must be 2.0 kilometres away from existing stations on same side of the road.
Also, the facility must have changing room, air compressor, lube bay, car wash, convenience store, offices, toilets (minimum of three each for male, female and one each for disabled male and female, fast food/restaurant, firefighting equipment, CCTV, nine pumps, 18 nozzles maximum, minimum of four underground tanks and maximum capacity underground tanks of 45,000 litres, security while e-banking facility is optional.
The state government urged investors to apply for planning information from the ministry before embarking on any developmental project in order to have first-hand information about the kind of development that could be done in a specific area of the state.
Further investigation from the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) revealed that all applications for the establishment and operation of downstream gas facilities will be done through its Automated Gas System (AGS) portal.
According to the DPR, apart from paying the required statutory and processing fee, applicants must satisfy three other requirements which include Site Suitability Approval, Approval to Construct, Approval to Install and license to operate.
The Head, Public Relations Unit of DPR, Paul Osu, who directed Sunday Tribune to the Department’s website for more information, said the guidance and other information have since been uploaded on the website.
The required guidelines describe the procedure and condition for granting approval for the construction and operation of LPG refilling facility in Nigeria. It, among others, “provides the baseline requirement for the establishment of LPG Refilling Facility and Retailers’ Outlets aimed at ensuring that the risk of LPG Refilling or retailing is minimised as far as is reasonably practicable.”
A copy of the document obtained by Sunday Tribune described the Site Suitability Approval as a business enabling and advisory instrument set up to eliminate possible loss of investment that may result should the site be deemed unsuitable at the Approval to Construct (ATC) phase.
“The company shall be required to upload the following documents and diagrams necessary for Site Suitability Approval on the portal: Certificate of Incorporation and Memorandum and Article of Association of the company, a sketch of proposed site layout showing the existing or proposed buildings on the site, adjoining properties, if any, and the respective distances of the tank(s) to critical facilities within the premises, roadways and adjoining fence with third parties and a Survey Plan of the proposed plot of land,” it stated.
It, among other guidelines, states that although these facilities may have above ground or underground storage tank configurations, these would be designed by DPR-accredited company in line with global standards.
The Department also stressed that only LPG storage tanks may be buried but not without its approval.
“The excavation of the pit for the LPG storage tank shall permit allowance of not less than 70 centimeters when the tank has been set in its final position.
“The tank shall be set in a chamber of waterproof concrete of not less than 23 centimeters thick and the top a watertight detachable or removable concrete slab with manhole at the centre,” the document further stated.
In terms of fire protection, the DPR said such measures shall cater and ensure that adequate controls are put in place, including special, technical and organizational measures.
“The fire protection system of a LPG refilling facility shall be required and designed to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a fire or explosion to minimize its intensity should such an event occur,” it said.
Despite the guidelines, the question is, why do we still experience incessant gas explosions? The answer obviously lies in the handling of safety measures.
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