Bangladesh plans to convert public vehicles into gas-run

Bangladeshi government has planned to turn all the public vehicles into gas-run by the year end to reduce its petroleum import costs.

A spokesperson of the Mineral Resources Ministry said the government has taken the decision of converting all the vehicles of the public sector into CNG-run (Condensed Natural Gas) by 2005 and this move would save the country's import cost of petroleum products, which stand at around 1.3 billion US dollars per year.

The spokesman said the government has already halved the fuel cost of public transport in the past years as almost half of its transports have been converted into gas-run, reducing 39 million dollars of petroleum import bill annually.

The official could not give the exact number of public transports immediately and the annual consumption of petroleum products by those vehicles.

Bangladesh at present has a proven reserve of around 16 trillion cubic foot of gas.

The country had wanted to convert all public vehicles into gas-run a few years before, but that move was abandoned in the face of opposition by the government's drivers, who are widely blamed for corrupt practices.

It was not known how the public sector drivers would react on the latest government move.

However, most of private vehicles are being converted into gas-run as it reduces by at least 75 percent the fuel cost in this impoverished South Asian nation of 140 million. Environment activists welcomed the government's decision,

blaming oil-run vehicles for the air pollution in the capital Dhaka, which was termed most polluted after Mexico.

But the cost of conversion at about 35,000 taka (583 dollars) is preventing private vehicle owners to opt for the gas-run, said a private transport owner Mezbahul Huq.

"If the government forces conversion agencies to reduce cost, nearly all private vehicle owners will do it, which would save the government billions of hard currency to import petroleum products," Huq said.

Source: Xinhua