PESHAWAR, July 15: A Chinese automobile company will provide environment-friendly CNG buses to various cities of the NWFP on soft terms. The provincial government has already approved a proposal for 100 such buses for the Peshawar district government.

An official handout issued on Sunday said that the order for 700 buses for six districts of the province had been placed.

Yunma Bus Manufacturing Company would initially provide 100 buses to the city district government. Leasing facility with low mark-up and easy-terms would be offered for encouraging transporters to switch to CNG buses.

Yunma representative in Pakistan Chaudhry Shehzad Akhtar said at a press briefing recently that the CNG buses would provide a better transport service and help improve the environmental conditions.

Company officials said that display centres would be set up in Karachi and some cities of the NWFP.

According to the company’s estimate, there is a shortage of 1,000 buses in the NWFP, 12,000 in Punjab and 5,000 in Karachi.

Local transporters seem unhappy with the proposal of CNG buses for the city, fearing that their business will suffer a setback from their induction into the public transport system.