This year the company will buy 162 new CNG- powered buses and build two CNG filling stations.

From 2016 to 2020, the company will buy 393 more buses and build five more CNG filling stations.

This was announced in a meeting, held on Wednesday, between the Dong Nai People's Committee and other agencies to discuss the use of CNG-powered buses in the province.

The Sonadezi Transport Corporation said during the past years, the province had developed rapidly, with dozens of industrial zones coming up. The growing population was also leading to increasing demand for public vehicles.

An incomplete survey showed that this year, more than 22 million passengers using public transport in the province, and that by 2020, the number will be more than 32 million.

The transport infrastructure was not able to cope with the demand, leading to traffic jams at peak hours, environment pollution and traffic accidents.

The project will help limit exhaust fumes and ensure that the norms of environment-friendly public transport vehicles are maintained, representatives of the company said.

The company said that it needed 3,500sq.m to build seven CNG filling stations.

The company has requested the provincial authorities to give it priority in borrowing capital and setting preferential fares for CNG-powered buses. It also asked for land to build the filling stations and tax exemption for import of tools to provide CNG.

Tran Van Vinh, deputy chairman of the Dong Nai People's Committee, said in the coming years, the province wanted public transport vehicles to use safer fuels.

The CNG-powered bus project would ensure environment safety, and therefore, the province would help to speed up the project and replace diesel-powered buses with CNG-powered buses, Vinh said. 

VNS