The government wanted to encourage local manufacturing of CNG buses so that the project of plying 4000 CNG buses in Karachi meets with success. The Federal Minister for Environment, Hameedullah Jan Afridi said in a high level meeting to discuss the CNG bus project.
The President, National Forum for Environment and Health, M Naeem Qureshi and senior officials were present in the meeting. The Minister said this was a mega project and will take time as scores of issues including the availability of buses and installation of dedicated filling terminals have to be resolved.
Provincial governments are the stakeholders and they need to own this project in the long run, he added. 'We want to start it as soon as possible. We also want to promote the local industry and expect local manufacturers to produce CNG buses locally. If they succeed, then there will be no need of importing buses from abroad. The local manufacturers have assured us that they can produce 4000 buses annually,' said Afridi.
He further stated that these buses would be environment-friendly and will save foreign exchange paid against import of petroleum products. A proper infrastructure will be developed for successful plying of CNG buses. 'We need to install high-pressure filling stations to the tanks within five to six minutes,' he added.
Referring of the steps to confront environmental issues, he said that new strategy is being adopted to reduce pollution in Pakistan with maximum participation of communities in the areas of operation and consultations with other stakeholders including provinces and district governments. 'It is necessary to devise a strategy and policy to deal with the environmental pollution,' he observed. Furthermore, 'The environment factor is like a time bomb, has already put the world on high alert and need quick attention,' Afridi added.
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