KARACHI, March 6: The ministry for petroleum and natural resources is working on a plan to replace the diesel engines of all the buses with CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) ones in order to minimize the environmental pollution in the country.

This was stated by the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Nouraiz Shakoor, while talking to newsmen at the "International CNG Conference and Exhibition" on Saturday. He said the proposed plan would be submitted to the federal cabinet for approval after a draft was finalized.

A cut-off date would be given to the operators of diesel engine buses in this regard. Once the plan was approved by the cabinet, he said, it would be first implemented in all federal and provincial capitals and later expanded to the other parts of the country.

Earlier, experts speaking at the conference called for promotion of what they termed the "CNG culture" in order to reduce environmental pollution in the country. They also advocated the replacement of diesel engines with CNG ones to cut down the import bill of petroleum products, which was $3.5 annually.

The moot at which they were speaking was organized by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH). The speakers called for maintaining quality and other standards at the CNG stations to minimize the chances of mishap.

They underscored the need for a comprehensive database and urged the undertaking of a baseline study of the CNG industry so that accurate data could be made available about the fast growing sector. They also called for more duty exemption, subsidy and tax relief on the material required for the industry and demanded further relaxation on import of equipment beyond June 2004 so that the sector could further flourish.

Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Nouraiz Shakoor, on the occasion said the government was going to launch a countrywide campaign soon to carry out inspection of the CNG stations. The problems hindering the promotion of CNG in the country would also be collated under this initiative.

He revealed that the government had launched various projects to promote CNG but asked the people involved in the industry to keep a check on those who were producing sub-standard equipment, often resulting in mishaps.

The Federal Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Abdullah Yousaf, claimed that if serious thought was not given to the promotion of CNG, a situation might emerge when it would be impossible to live in the major cities due to environment pollution caused by emissions from vehicles.- PPI