Sunday 6 July 2008

Kelantan aims to be natural gas vehicle hub

KOTA BARU: Kelantan wants to turn the state into a hub for natural gas vehicles (NGV).

State Finance Planning committee chairman Datuk Husam Musa said that petroleum companies which fitted NGV kits should provide an instalment package to make NGV affordable to users.

Discussions will be held with petroleum companies here on Thursday to kick-start the plan.

Kelantan is even open to foreign fuel firms setting up the necessary infrastructure to make natural gas (NG) available to road users here.

“We will discuss how to provide monthly instalment payment schemes for civil servants, public transport operators and private sector workers who install the NGV kits, Husam said after presenting RM10,000 aid to the state hired cars and taxi association here.

Earlier it was reported that in a move to promote NGV, Kelantan plans to grant exclusive rights to any petroleum company keen on investing in the infrastructure to supply NG on a commercial basis. That offer, extended also to national oil corporation Petronas, still stands.

Storage and supply facilities throughout the state, including a pipeline to ensure safe delivery of NG to areas selected for dispensing it, will be brought up during the discussions, Husam said.

NGV has been identified as the main solution to arrest the escalating price of global fossil fuels and reduce the cost of transportation both in the public and private sectors, he said.

On the recent increase in petrol and diesel prices, Husam claimed that the Federal Government had made a political decision and not an economic one.

Source : The Star