Empirical Study on the Differences in Stakeholder Perceptions on Locations of Filling Stations in Kitwe, Zambia

Abstract

Locations of filling stations in every economy, whether a small town, city or mega city, are perceived by the citizenry that, they are placed at strategic and convenient places to enable users access their service at the time of need. What the public is ignorant about are the factors, i.e., planning standards and principles that are used to determine the best locations. This study focused on establishing the perceptions of residents living within the proximity of filling stations, the motorists who purchase the products, the entrepreneurs who own the filling stations and business owners who locate their businesses near the filling stations. The assumption was that, the four stakeholders will have different perceptions based on their interest.The proposition of this study was that, filling stations must be located taking into consideration, the environmental sustainability concerns enshrined in the town and country planning standards and principles to reduce the risks to environment and the eco-system. Similarly, environmental impact assessment criteria must be fulfilled before an approval is given to commence the project. The main assumption underlying the proposition was that, with the stakeholders having little knowledge on the location criteria, they will have different perceptions on the location of filling stations. The research was a qualitative one that utilized descriptive cross-sectional survey. The likert scale qualitative structured questionnaire was used to generate quantitative data to test the hypotheses. The t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses. The main finding was that, the perceptions amongst the stakeholders were different.

Keywords: Filling Stations, Different Stakeholder Perceptions, Locations, Kitwe, Zambia