A team of CNG bus and aircraft manufacturer M/s Yunma Aircraft Manufacturer Ltd, China will meet Sindh Chief Minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal on Monday to discuss possibilities for plying green buses in the metropolis.
This was stated by Chairman Wisdom Alliance and local representative of M/s Yunma Aircraft, Shehzad Akhtar here on Friday. He said overseas representative of Yunma, Zong Li Han and Managing Director Wisdom Alliance, Akbar Ali will also accompany him during these meetings.
He said that according to a careful estimate, Karachi needed at least 5,000 CNG buses on immediate basis to replace thick smoke-emitting obsolete buses, which have significantly contributed to the alarming level of pollution in the metropolis.
"We are interested in launching CNG buses in Pakistan and this will create more than 20,000 jobs for skilled and qualified youth in the country", Shehzad observed. He pointed out that Yunma is a huge public sector company in Chinese defence sector, producing heavy buses and aircraft and also supplying JF-17 thunder jets to Pakistan Airforce.
Shehzad said that Yunma can supply 300 dedicated quality CNG buses per month at an economical prices which will also benefit interested transporters who are otherwise reluctant to buy costly CNG buses.
He said that Chief Minister of NWFP, Akram Khan Durrani and City Nazim Peshawar has already asked his company to ply 700 CNG buses in various districts of the province including 100 in Peshawar city at the initial stage. "We have principally agreed with NWFP government and City Nazim Peshawar to ply these buses", he added.
He said that display centres and workshops for these buses will be set up soon in Karachi and Peshawar. Yunma will provide after sales service and a guarantee of 18 months against any fault in these buses, he noted.
He noted that federal government will provide soft term credit to transporters of CNG buses as low as three percent which is very lucrative for transport sector. Our company will utilise this incentive, he opined.