State goes hi-tech in new bid to curb illegal gas refilling

The Government is set to introduce biometric tracking of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders in a move aimed at curbing adulteration and illegal refilling.

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, which is spear heading the project, also expects the biometrically tagged cylinders to generate crucial data on consumer spending habits and also provide records of any illegal refills.

The ministry Tuesday invited bids for a tender to supply the radio frequency identification (RFID) system and database expected to be rolled out by the first quarter of next year.

“The RFID exercise is a unique anti-counterfeit, marketing and asset control system that will help in cylinder inventory management and tracking of cylinders across the distribution/supply chain,” said the ministry in the tender notice.

Loyalty programme

The new system will also help the ministry develop a digital asset control system covering the distribution chain that will be integrated with an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform currently being developed.

Such a service is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application programme in the network.

The system will at the same time allow consumers integrate mobile payment solutions as well as join a loyalty programme to be introduced later.

“The RFID chips will be installed on new gas cylinders, specifically those supplied by the Government, as part of the Mwananchi Gas Project,” confirmed Energy Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau in an interview.