Pakistan phases out diesel in favor of CNG by 2007

Pakistan phases out diesel from major cities

3 January 2006

Business Recorder. The federal government of Pakistan has directed provincial governments to phase out diesel-engine buses, mini-buses, wagons and two-stroke rickshaws from major cities by the end of 2007.

The first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Replacement of Diesel by CNG on Tuesday suggested that no permit be issued to diesel vehicles in the major cities of Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Islamabad/Rawalpindi from 2007.

Pakistan is mandating a major shift to CNG to reduce pollution. According to the director general of the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP), Pakistan has become the leading CNG user in Asia and 3rd in the world.

To ease the financial burden, the government may pick up interest on loans to prospective buyers of CNG buses on a public-private partnership basis and the State Bank of Pakistan may advise commercial banks to establish credit line for CNG sired goal by involving all the stakeholders.

Pakistan expects that about 100,000 vehicles per year will be converted to CNG.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/01/pakistan_orders.html