Nana Abrokwa Asare, the Administrator of the Secretariat told the Ghana News Agency, (GNA) in an interview.

The initiative is to address the discrepancies in the premix fuel distribution chain, curb the issues of middlemen, hoarding, frequent shortages and improve efficiency in the distribution.

“We are launching it this month, out of the 300, we have done 50, by the end of the year, another 150 will be constructed so, progressively we are getting towards that destination that we all want to get to.

He said fishermen would be given special cards to access premix fuel when the propcess was completed.

After the close fishing season ended, some fishermen complained about the lack of premix fuel for fishing.

Data from the Environment for Development (EfD) – a global network for environmental research – indicate that the cost of premix fuel is reduced by 70 percent to fishermen through subsidy.

It, however, says though the country expends US$40million each year on premix subsidies, only 20 percent of the amount goes to fishermen because the supply system is characterised by illegalities and corrupt activities.

Mr. Abrokwa Asare explained that the recent shortage of premix fuel at the various landing beaches was due to operational and mechanical challenges at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
He said landing beaches, including Anomabo, Abrofo Mpoano, Manford, Elimina, Winneba, Egyan, Ga Matshie, Moree, Oshiyie, Gbegbese, Komenda, Kafuodidi, Abobiano, British Komenda, and Akwanda “have all received fuel just the previous weeks, so over time, I’m sure all the landing beaches would have received their fair share of the fuel.”

He said apart from the automation project, other stakeholder engagements were ongoing to ensure sanity in the sector.

“We are engaging stakeholders like the Tema Oil Refinery to also revamp its machines, that is also a lasting solution.”

Meanwhile, at the Jamestown fishing landing beaches, some fishermen said the irregular supply of premix fuel was affecting the price of fish on the market.

“Since we don’t get regular supply of premix fuel, we have to resort to buying regular fuel and gasoline oil on the open market before we can go fishing and since they are expensive, we are not able to buy more to go far, so our catch is limited, hence the high prices of fish on the market,” Addisson, a fisherman told the GNA.