In the wake of gasoline shortage on the Liberian market, the House of Representatives has set up a specialized committee to investigate the petroleum crisis here.The House took the decision on Tuesday, 4 February after the Minister of Commerce Prof. Wilson Terpeh along with Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) Managing Director appeared before the House and informed lawmakers that there were enough gasoline in the country that could go
for the month of February.
The decision to invite the Minister of Commerce and LPRC was reached based on a communication from River Gee County District #1 Representative Alex Poure. Representative Poure had demanded answer to questions regarding the shortage of petroleum products on the market for the past weeks.
He said the shortage of gasoline on the Liberian market had caused a serious increase in transportation fares across the country and has caused difficulties for people to get to work.Appearing before the House of Representatives Tuesday, Minister Terpeh said the statement made by him ten days prior to his appearance was based on the data he collected.Based on that data, he tells lawmakers that there should not have a problem, though he says the actual situation pointed to a problem.
As such, Minister Tarpeh indicates that a meeting was held with LPRC and the importer, following which it was discovered that indeed the level of product that was expected did not come in.He says in spite of all that is ongoing, the price of gas still remains the same. For her part, the Managing Director of LPRC Madam Marie U. Coleman expresses apology to the body and the Liberian people for the embarrassment they have been going through over the past weeks.
She says LPRC received products from three importers including Total, SP and Amanita monthly.However, she notes that the product that was scheduled to come in country in December for February did not come.According to Madam Coleman, they were informed by their importers that they could not bring product in the country due to the restriction from APM Terminals in relations to some ongoing works at the port.But she says as she speaks, they do have enough product in the country that will last for the month of February.By Bridgett Milton—Edited by Winston W. Parley
