BEIJING, April 23: Pakistan and China have signed an agreement to set up a bus-manufacturing plant at Port Qasim in Karachi by the end of this year.

The project will be undertaken jointly by China Yuantai International Traders and a Shanghai-based Pakistani company, Triple Engineering.

A design and technical layout of the plant have already been prepared on the basis of German technology. "We have acquired a piece of land at Port Qasim for this purpose," said Ali Haider, a senior official of the Pakistani company.

It has also been proposed to set up a similar project near Gwadar in Balochistan. The buses to be manufactured will be made in accordance with the road conditions in the country.

Mr Haider told APP that a high-tech bus to be manufactured would be called "Land aircraft" which would have a safest in- built system to avoid loss of life in case of any accident. There would be separate buses for short and long routes, with different seats capacities. The long-route buses would also have the facility of a dinning-room and a toilet.

Meanwhile, 25 new Chinese buses, with a latest design, having 30 per cent less fuel-consumption capacity would be introduced in Karachi next month. Later, similar buses would be introduced in other cities.

The two-sides have also signed a contract to introduce CNG buses in Pakistan. Mr Haider hoped that the CNG buses would help reduce environmental pollution and overcome the transport problem in the big cities.