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A Ministry of Environment initiative, the CNG buses project was conceived in 2005 and federal cabinet on July 16, 2008 gave go-ahead to launch 8, 000 buses in major cities like Karachi, Multan, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Gujranwala, Sukkur and Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The government had approved 4,000 CNG buses for Karachi alone.
“But the project has met with delays from the start. Gas shortage, financial crunch, political interests, and resistance from local transporters are still major hurdle to this genuine mass transit system,” said an official of the ministry of environment.
However, abandoned by the previous military government, the project seemed to have been picked up by the present regime.
In the budget for 2009-10, the government had allocated Rs300 million against a demand of Rs1.3 billion.
“This drastic cut is because of fears about the success of the project,” he said adding, “Worst, allocations for 201011 were further cut to Rs200 million.” Sources in the ministry were of the view that the money released was apparently for survival of people associated with the project. “Otherwise the project is impractical because of gas shortage.
After the UN sanctions on Iran the gas pipeline project seems to have hit snags and with it the hope to overcome the shortage also dashed.” While relevant government departments had yet to provide implementation plan, route planning and land use, there were disputes between certain offices over provision of high pressure dedicated CNG stations.
“The dedicated Compressed Natural Gas Stations are to come first. But nothing is being done on these lines,” said another official.
The issues of congenial environment for bus operators, identification of routes for CNG buses, selection of operators and manufacturers besides arrangements for any feasible loans were still pending.
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