KARACHI, Aug 24: Ten new CNG buses of Swede-Bus Pakistan are awaiting the green signal from the city district government Karachi to start operating on the city’s roads.

Ahmad Shabbir, CEO of Swede-Bus Pakistan, talking to PPI here on Friday said that the company had imported 10 modern CNG buses, which were waiting for the CDGK’s clearance regarding route allocation and fare finalisation. He said that 15 more CNG buses would arrive at Karachi port in a week.

He said that the city government must avail the funds of international agencies to replace the old smoke-emitting buses with new CNG vehicles to minimise environmental pollution and provide efficient commuting services to Karachiites.

Mr Shabbir said that 32 of his company’s buses had to be taken off the roads due to mounting fuel prices and lack of government support in terms of promised subsidies and route allocations.

He said the best solution to the public transport issue lay in exchanging all the old buses with new CNG vehicles. He suggested that the government should buy the old buses at feasible prices and later operate these in smaller towns or interior districts.

He said that number of UTS buses had shrunk and their quality of service was not good, as the government did not grant UTS owners the promised subsidies, which forced the owners to either suspend their service or shift their buses to another province.

He said the city government of Lahore was far more committed than the CDGK as the government was not supporting these endeavours.

Executive District Officer (EDO) Transport Dr Mohammad Tahir Soomro, when contacted, said that the city government was waiting for the arrival of all buses (25 buses of Swede Bus and 75 from Holland waiting at Dubai port) to allot them routes and fare tariff.

Regarding the exchange of old public transport vehicles with new CNG buses, he said that some primary proposals were under consideration to either buy the old vehicles from transporters, provide them financing to buy new CNG buses and/or to provide CNG kits to old diesel buses along with financing. He added that these were just options and nothing was finalised yet.—PPI