Illegal gas refilling plant in estate is disaster in waiting

A disaster is waiting to happen at Ndenderu, Kiambu County, where an illegal Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) filling plant which sits in the middle of a residential area runs its dangerous business, the Sunday Nation can reveal.

The plant is conveniently located on the Northern Bypass opposite the Ndenderu Catholic Church where a good number of trucks from Mombasa pass on their way to western Kenya.  

According to our investigations, truck drivers, especially those from big oil marketing companies, have for the last two years been offloading some of the gas they are transporting at this siphoning centre and, in the process, denying their employers millions of shillings in revenue.

To make their business look legitimate, the gas is repackaged into branded cylinders to leverage off trusted brands before finding its way into the market through the backdoor.

LPG is highly flammable and just a small leak or contact with a spark can cause an explosion.

For this reason the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) says it cannot license a filling plant in the middle of a residential area.

“Ordinarily there are limitations on how close a filling plant can be to a residential area but not in the middle of it,” ERC’s managing director Joseph Nganga told the Sunday Nation.

“Remember these cylinders are pressure bombs. They are weapons but remember these are illegal things like selling drugs. Someone cannot come and tell you I’m doing this so unless a problem occurs you cannot know,” he said.

But in a rare show of bravado and high scale impunity, those living around the facility have been threatened against talking about it by hawk-eyed vigilantes hired by the owners.

The vigilantes double as spies to identify any strangers asking questions.

LOW PRICES
So suspicious are the owners that those living in an apartment that overlooks the facility say they can’t stay on their balconies for a long time before being asked what their intentions are.

“You can’t even flip your phone on the balcony because the next thing you know is you will be accosted on the street and told never to do it again because they think you are taking pictures,” said a resident.

“There is always a strong smell of gas around here and people are even afraid to cook in their houses because of the fear of an explosion. We are like prisoners only that we can walk around,” said another resident.

Residents have been ordered never to use an open fire when cooking and the vigilantes patrol the area to ensure the order is complied with. In exchange, the residents get free LPG.

The site is surrounded by a high wall that protects against prying eyes with an unlabelled black metal gate making it impossible for anyone to know what happens inside.

Last Wednesday, the Sunday Nation saw a Mercedez Benz Actros truck registration number KBS 336H pull in at about 2 pm and proceeded to unload gas to a storage tank located on the left side of the premises. 

The truck stayed there for almost three hours but during that time a Nissan Urvan remodelled into a pick-up registration number KAJ 388P came in with dozens of gas cylinders which were offloaded.

Residents say this is the daily routine where gas is siphoned from trucks during the day and, under the cover of darkness, smaller trucks come in to collect refilled cylinders.

“We can hardly sleep at night as the noise from the loading process is excruciating. We have complained to the police but they only come here to collect bribes on a daily basis,” said a resident who says he was threatened when he enquired about it.

According to our enquiries the plant sells 13kg LPG at Sh1,200 and 6kg at Sh600 which is way below the market prices at petrol stations.

Buyers also have the option of getting any amount of gas from this plant, according to their ability.

PUBLIC'S ROLE
We also established that the Anti-Counterfeit Agency led by its acting CEO John Akoten raided the premises in June 8 last year and arrested five people they found there but its owner escaped.

However, after about a month, the plant resumed operations.

Last Friday Mr Akoten told the Sunday Nation they can only act if there is a tip-off .

"We operate on complaints because these are matters of intellectual property rights and if either the public or aggrieved companies come to us we will act,” he said.

According to data from the Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) about seven out of 10 gas cylinders in the market are being filled illegally by unscrupulous businessmen.

Most of them are, however, brought in from Zambia and Tanzania in lorries.

A contentious issue in the industry is whether the seller continues to have rights on a cylinder once it is sold.

While multinationals say what a consumer pays is only a deposit, the independent dealers say the brand owner ceases to have rights over the cylinder and it can, therefore, be refilled by any other provider.