VietNamNet Bridge – The Director of HCM City Department of Transport, Duong Hong Thanh, said HCM City will put two compressed natural gas-fueled buses into operation in early-2009.

One of the two gas-fueled buses which were imported from South Korea.

After that, 38 other buses will be transformed to fit with this kind of fuel. By the end of 2011, HCM City will have 800 buses using compressed natural gas. According to Thanh, buses that use gas, instead of diesel, can save 50% of fuel costs and help reduce environmental pollution.

The plan to transform diesel-fueled buses into gas-fueled vehicles was approved on December 18 at a meeting between officials of the HCM City Department of Transport, the Southern Liquefied Petroleum Gas Company, and Sunjin Group from South Korea. Two gas-fueled buses have already been imported from South Korea.

Thanh said buses will be installed with fuel transformers, or their engines will be replaced to fit with gas. The city may buy gas-fueled buses.

The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group is able to provide approximately 50 million cu.m of gas to buses in HCM City next year, and more than 120 million cu.m in 2010.

According to the Southern Liquefied Petroleum Gas Company, there are three sources of compressed natural gas: the Dinh Co plant in Phu My Industrial Zone, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, and gas from oil and gas fields of Vietnam, which will be processed at the Go Dau Industrial Zone in Dong Nai Province in 2010 at a yearly capacity of 50-70 million cu.m, and the Southwestern frozen warehouse in the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone in HCM City, which will open in 2012.

He said the HCM City Department of Transport will ask the local government to have supportive policies for investors.

By December 2007, there were 754,000 gas-fueled cars in the world. Some countries that widely use this kind of vehicle are China, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Qatar.

(Source: NLD)