By Politico Staff Writer
Sierra Leone’s Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) has put a hold on the construction of a fuel station in the southern district of Bo and fined the owner for failing to follow the right procedures.
Regional Manager, PRA, Albert Yarjah, told Politico that they had two months ago advised Alhaji Mohamed Kamara, who owns the fuel station, to go by the rules and regulations but that he failed to adhere and continued with the construction work.
“No one is allowed to put up fuel Station if you are not given license and there is always a fine if anyone goes against the rules," he said.
Yarjah went on to explain the procedures involved in constructing a fuel station, which included an official letter of intent to the Chief Executive Officer.
Thereafter, an inspection team will visit the site for the proposed construction to see if the environment is conducive before given permission to start work.
The PRA regional manager noted that Bo district has 18 fuel stations and that they have been doing regular monitoring of their activities to ensure compliance to the regulations.
Alhaji Mohamed Kamara confirmed to Politico that his work had been halted by the agency, noting that he was fined Le50million.
Kamara added that he was working on getting the necessary documentation for the business. He added that it wasn’t intentional for him to default on the rules but that he could not locate the PRA regional Office in Bo as he was given wrong address.
Residents within the construction area told Politico that the environment is not good to operate any fuel station considering the fact that dwelling houses surrounds the station.
But Kamara said that he was prepared to fence the station in order to protect the community.
“All these issues are in the planning process. I am still on the documentation. I was directed to their office, but I couldn’t locate there. I will protect houses around the fuel Station," he said.
The PRA was established by an Act of Parliament (PRA Act of 2014) to grant license and regulate the petroleum downstream activities in Sierra Leone; these includes importation, storage, transportation, retailing, refinery, jetty and bunkering.
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