There was only one testing centre for CNG cylinders in the city having about one million automobiles converted on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) since 1993, said the HDIP official. The General Manager, Hydrocarbon Development Institution of Pakistan (HDIP), Mohammad Habib-ur-Rehman said it included over 20,000 vehicles of public transport which have been converted to CNG in the last two years.
The situation was alarming when people installed used-CNG cylinders in public transport to cut conversion cost, he maintained. Habib also informed that there would soon be opened 3 to 4 private sector's CNG testing centres in the main areas of the metropolitan that would facilitate CNG vehicle owners to get tested their cylinders within their vicinity. He said that the HDIP was in view of helping private sector to open CNG cylinder testing centres in other cities of the country.
He said it generally took five to six days to examine a CNG cylinder at our testing centre due to the heavy workload. We would keep planning on to reduce the time up to one or two days after the opening of more centres in the city, added he. He also said that the HDIP experts would provide appropriate inspection training to their staffs for testing CNG kits and cylinders, he noted.
Abrar Saleem, owner of CNG car said that HDIP should open testing centres in the main centres of the city to facilitate CNG users. The CNG cylinder testing centre was located far away and took almost a day to drop CNG cylinder at the testing centre, he added.
Pakistan has emerged number one among countries having largest number of CNG vehicles in the world. By mid of 2011, about 3 million CNG vehicles were expected in the country, leaving behind Iran with 1.96 million vehicles, which was previously ranked as number one followed by Argentina 1.95 million, and Brazil 1.6 million vehicles.
Similarly, the number of CNG filling stations has also crossed 3,200 mark but the government could not develop a proper network for the inspection of CNG kits and cylinders in vehicles. Contrary to the rampant growth in the number of CNG vehicles and their filling stations in the country, there were only three inspection centres in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi for testing the vehicles.