Bamenda Gas Filling Centre: Maximising The Huge Investment

The population of the North West Regional capital, Bamenda, those of the entire region and even of the surrounding localities are certainly swimming in joy as hitherto problems of availability and affordability of cooking gas are now behind them. This as the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Filling Centre constructed in the Bangshie neighbourhood of Bamendankwe in Bamenda 1 Subdivision under the aegis of the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilisation Fund and inaugurated on May 9, 2025 effectively went operational on Friday December 12.
Since the Friday, December 12, 2025 commissioning, the Bamenda Liquefied Petroleum Gas Filling Centre has domestic gas available for marketers to get and sell to the Bamenda city population, that of the North West Region in general and neighbouring West Region. This signals a complete turnaround from the difficulties the population went through to even see, talk less of being capable of purchasing it. As such, beyond the availability that the Gas Centre guarantees, affordability is equally ascertained as a 12.5 kg bottle of the cooking gas is sold at the homologated price of FCFA 6,500. This is no doubt a new dawn for both the government and the governed given that the scarcity and hike in the price of a product as precious and basic as cooking gas benefits no one. If it pushes the population into unbearable suffering, such a scenario rubbishes government’s much-trumpeted talk of ensuring better and acceptable cost of living. The new Centre is thus a big relief from the past when Bamenda inhabitants bought cooking gas at FCFA 8,500 during normal period and could cough out between FCFA 10,000 to FCFA 15,000 to obtain the same product when it became scarce. Though reports from Bamenda still talk of a hike in the price of the product one after is official commissioning, with business people justifying that they want to finish the old stock bought at higher cost, the Price Control Brigade of the Ministry of Trade must urgently swing into full and indiscriminate action to ensure the respect of the homologated prices of FCFA 6,500 per 12.5 kg of the cooking gas. All actors of the chain must wholly play by the rules.
In fact, going by information from the constructor – the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilisation Fund, the Filling Centre is ultra-modern and fully automated, with a total capacity of 200 metric tonnes, constructed on a 6.25-hectare site. Equipped with a 12-station carousel capable of filling between 600 and 650 cylinders per hour, the Centre will ensure continuous supply to the region. More so as statistics show that before the project came into being, the supply of cooking gas to Bamenda, which is about 80 km from the nearest storage of Bafoussam (costing at least FCFA 9,398 per additional ton) was done by full cylinders which were loaded at the Bafoussam depot and transported by road to Bamenda and its surroundings. Now beyond the comfort the Bamenda Liquefied Petroleum Gas Filling Centre brings to the general public by minimising the risks of gas shortage, the facility will as well contribute to the consolidation of efforts put in place by public authorities to improve the living conditions of the population. The investment, with all it brings to the city in terms of employment generation and wealth creation, will as well revitalise the local and national economies. Even more, facts presented by the project owner that the hope-raising centre includes two additional bases to accommodate future expansion, speaks volumes of its sustainability. Quite inspiring!
And government is said to be redoubling efforts to ensure that the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Filling Centre operates optimally and hitch-free. For instance, a FCFA 245 million electrification provision project is announced from town to the site. This is to ensure that the Centre has optimal energy supply to turn at full capacity. Also, a FCFA 4.4 billion double lane road is in view to link the site to the rest of the region. This accessibility would facilitate the transportation of the produced cooking gas from the factory to filling stations and then homes for final consumption. Visibly, an all-encompassing project with most, if not all its interwoven compone...