Lt. Gen. Saad Al-Tuwajri, who is the director general of the Civil Defense in the Kingdom, strongly denied rumors circulating in local newspapers regarding the transfer of liquefied petroleum gas outlets from the city center to the peripheral areas of the city.
Al-Tuwajri told Arab News that the erroneous news is false and unreasonable on many levels.
“Such a decision cannot be issued singlehandedly by the Civil Defense, as many governmental agencies need to contribute to this decision-making process, including the city mayor and the governor of the region. Moreover, transferring gas outlets to distant areas is not practical,” he said.
He clarified that what was meant was relocating the large gas companies to areas outside the city center, but not the gas-selling entities nor the gas stations. He also confirmed that a study is currently underway to assess the feasibility of transferring the large gas manufacturing companies to non-residential areas to limit the risks and dangers to public health.
Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of the World Civil Defense took place across the Kingdom under the slogan of “the safe use of gas and fuel”.
Lectures and workshops were organized to raise public awareness regarding the dangers of gas and fuel accidents in the framework of strengthening the community’s participation in supporting the Civil Defense.
Brig. Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi presented a study entitled “Transferring dangerous material safely,” which recommended intensive awareness campaigns in various media sources regarding transporting hazardous material in vehicles that do meet international standards and requirements and provide safe locations to park gas tankers.
Another presentation by Eng.Yazeef Al-Shibly discussed the experience of Sabic Chemicals and stressed on the need to hold regular meetings between the Civil Defense Directorate, chemical manufacturing companies and carriers, to set out the necessary procedures, inform drivers about the safety procedures and benefit from regional and international experiences in this regard.
Al-Shibly also demanded the establishment of a national committee to enhance the implementation of the best practices in handling accidents and emergencies as well as studying alternative means of transferring chemicals safely.
Gas outlets not being moved out of the city: Civil Defense
