ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The federal Minister for Environment and the Chairman of the Steering Committee on CNG buses Rehmatullah Afridi has directed relevant ministries and other stakeholders to expedite the process to operate CNG buses enabling masses to benefit from the programme.

The prime minister has approved the programme to provide environment-friendly and cheap transport facility to the people.

While presiding over the second meeting of the steering committee on Thursday, Mr Afridi asked the ministry of finance to take the banks on board to ensure loan facility to the private operators for this purpose.

A statement issued here said the minister also directed the concerned quarters to seek the cooperation of private sector for setting up high pressure CNG filling stations in the cities where CNG buses would start operation.

He said the Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) would establish CNG stations as a pilot project in these cities.

The minister said that a uniform policy would be adopted for establishing the project management units for the operation of these buses in the all four provinces.

He also asked the provinces to submit their demand for buses to operate in the specified cities and the committee would decide about the number of buses to be operated in that particular cities.

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Taimur Azmat Usman, informed the committee that the matter of provision of CNG to the private operators in nine mega cities was taken up with two major gas companies -- the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGCL) – who had shown there willingness to ensure the availability of CNG for the buses.