August 08, 2008	Friday	Sha’aban 5, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 7: The Sindh government is likely to bring at least 400 CNG buses on the roads in Karachi by the end of the current year on a private-public partnership basis.

The federal government has given approval of Rs5 billion for the introduction of 8,000 CNG buses in the first phase in 10 major cities of the country, including Karachi , Hyderabad and Sukkur in Sindh, it is learnt.

The CNG bus scheme, initiated by the planning and development division of the federal government, was initially meant for Karachi but the last meeting of the federal cabinet held on July 16 in Lahore decided to extend the project to nine other cities of the country.

It was further decided to transfer the project to the Ministry of Environment, which would oversee the implementation of the scheme by ensuring that all the stakeholders, particularly provincial chief ministers were fully onboard.

According to well-placed sources, the scheme was initially planned for nine major cities but on the request of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Sukkur was also included where CNG buses would be introduced in the first phase of the project.

The other cities are Lahore, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, and Peshawar, etc.

The technical committee, constituted under the chairmanship of the additional chief secretary (development) with representation from all the relevant departments, is busy shortlisting investors, suppliers and manufacturers of CNG buses.

Responding to the government advertisement, as many as 16 Expressions of Interest (EoI) have been received from various firms for the supply of CNG buses whereas four transporters have shown their interest in operating CNG buses in Karachi.

Sources said that the implementation of the scheme in Karachi would serve as a model and might be replicated in other cities if succeeded in Karachi.