“Half of the public car drivers in the country take the gas tank for boiling their plantains and put it into their cars to go out and get passengers,” announced transport union leader Antonio Marte, as reported in Listin Diario. The statement illustrates the fact that there is no legally authorized institution that checks and follows up on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) installations in public and private vehicles. Local reports have highlighted the increasing number of fires occurring due to poor installation of gas tanks in public transport vehicles.
The president of the National Fuel Retailers Association (Anadegas) says that this reckless and uncontrolled situation is due to the populist tendencies of the governments up until now. “There is no regulatory body to monitor the installation of LPG tanks, or the companies and people who install them. They only regulate the gas distributors, but not the users,” says Rafael Polanco, concluding that in general terms “they are endorsing disorder.”
Marte and Polanco agree that that the absence of a watchdog agency encourages informal LPG systems and poor handling of the tanks. Diario Libre spoke to LPG installation technicians in several areas around the country who have distanced themselves from the poor quality of installations. “Clients buy the system and do not install them. Sometimes they bring the tank from their house, while others are sold by traders. I comply by doing the installation,” said one technician in Villa Juana who does LPG installations for RD$2,500.