遥感与地理信息系统学报

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Geospatial Analysis of Fuel and Gas Station Distribution: Evaluating the Compliance and Impact of Station Siting on Public Health and Safety in Kumasi, Ghana

Richard Boadu Antwi*, Stephen Okai, Jonathan Quaye-Ballard, Eren Erman Ozguven

In this paper, locations of the various fuel and gas stations in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana were geospatially analysed against the standards set by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and Town and Country Planning Department. Global Positioning System Garmin 62S was used to capture the location of the fuel and gas stations whereas the boundary shapefile, road shapefile and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Kumasi were obtained from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and Survey and Mapping Division of Lands Commission. Spatial locations of the gas and fuel stations were integrated into the map of Kumasi in ArcMap environment of ArcGIS 10.3.1 in WGS84 coordinate system. All the analyses were performed in ArcMap environment using spatial statistics, spatial analyst, and proximity tools available in the software. Findings revealed that out of the 153 fuels and gas stations in the study area, 86% are owned by independent marketers and 14% owned by the Government. 69% of the fuel stations and 36% of the gas stations did not meet the criteria of 500 m and 1,000 m minimum distance to other stations located either on same side of the road or across the road. In addition, 14% of the stations did not meet the 100 m minimum distance requirement to roads. 39% of the fuel stations and 67% of the gas stations were built at critical areas that harmfully affect public institutions in the city. Generally, 18% of the fuel/gas stations met all EPA requirements, 51% disobeyed only one requirement, 24% disobeyed two, and 7% disobeyed all three requirements. 16% of them are located at areas with very low elevations and will be affected by runoff water and possibly can be flooded. 21% out of the 41 recorded health centres were affected by improper siting of fuel/gas stations. 37 out of the 41 health centres and 3 out of the 4 recorded fire service stations are in close proximity to these stations and are in the position to respond to emergency cases. The findings of this research clearly indicate that regulatory agencies need to look into the station siting and how they follow up EPA requirements more critically and react accordingly.