The Federal Government is to roll out guidelines for the conversion of petrol-powered vehicles into compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles to ensure the safety of the vehicles and boost the confidence of drivers.
This is coming as the government plans to roll out CNG buses under the Presidential Committee on Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCCNGi).
Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Osanipin Joseph, disclosed this in a chat with newsmen on the sidelines of the visit of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, to Jet Motors, one of the indigenous auto assemblers contracted to produce the CNG buses promised by President Bola Tinubu.
The Federal Government unveiled the CNG initiative as part of measures to lessen the burden of the removal of fuel subsidy from petroleum products.
The CNG-powered vehicles would be rolled out as an alternative means of transportation, as according to the minister, it’s three times cheaper to power a vehicle with CNG than petrol.
Edun inspected the Jet Motor Assembly to witness the SKD assembling of the CNG vehicles and electric vehicles while also test-driving them.
He said: “I have the privilege of going round the assembly plant for electric vehicles, CNG, to see the assembly plant, the bi-fuel assembly plant of Jet Motor, very impressive, very neat and very automated, and of course they are producing the CNG buses promised by Mr President.
“Today you need about N50,000 to fill an average 15-seater bus for petrol. On the other hand, the cost of CNG is about three times less, it’s about one-third if not one-quarter. Compared to the N55,000 you spend on petrol, you can now fill for around N15,000, which is a huge saving that would help reduce transportation costs.
“Pretty soon in the next few weeks, we are going to roll out the guidelines for conversion. As it is, you know safety is number one, we have to make sure that some safety procedures are followed in terms of the quality of the kits and the processing for conversion.
“So, we are going to accredit the CNG conversion workshops, and that accreditation is going to be done in the next two, three weeks.”
