KUCHING: Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Deputy Minister Chong Chieng Jen will be meeting the owner of MyGaz tomorrow to resolve the issue on whether its LPG cooking gas tanks should be recalled, among other things.
Chong said he will ‘thrash out’ all issues soon with the directors of MyGaz after approximately 35,000 MyGaz LPG cylinder valves were found leaking.
“Because of the sheer volume, replacement work will take some time,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
“I will be meeting the owner of MyGaz this Wednesday (tomorrow) in the hope of resolving the issue as soon as possible.”
In the ministry’s statement last week, Chong was quoted as saying that he viewed the shortage of LPG cylinders in Sarawak seriously as it affected many households, particularly the livelihoods of hawkers and food stall operators.
“Upon our investigation, the ministry was informed by the company MyGaz that the valves of more than 34,000 of its cylinders were found to be leaking. As such, it has reduced its daily production of 10,000 ‘tongs’ (cylinders) to half the volume,” Chong was quoted as saying.
MyGaz has taken steps to remedy the situation by ordering more cylinders from Peninsular Malaysia, buying new cylinders and importing new valves from Thailand.
However, a week after the first incident happened, there was still no satisfactory dateline given by MyGaz to fully resolve the problem, he added.
Meanwhile, the ministry has contacted Petronas, which is ready with excess gas cylinders to fill up the shortage of LPG cylinders amongst MyGaz customers, but Petronas will need MyGaz to supply the information on its distribution network and customers facing the shortage.
The ministry has also issued directives to MyGaz to supply such information together with its action plan to the ministry so that the problem can be resolved in the shortest time possible.
Chong urged MyGaz to give full cooperation to the ministry so that the ministry does not need to resort to stern actions under the provisions of Control Supply Act, 1961. The business and profit consideration on the part of MyGaz should not take precedence over the greater public interest of having uninterrupted supply of LPG cylinders, he emphasised.
Correction: MyGaz has purchased the Shell LPG business from Shell Timur Sdn Bhd in 2012, and hence it is not an appointed Shell LPG dealer as reported earlier. Story has been updated to reflect this. We apologise for the error.