Differences over CNG safety law

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani stakeholders and the government have reached at a level with full of difference over the mechanism to ensure safety in compressed natural gas (CNG) fitted vehicles, as different departments have started implementing their own rules.

Just one day after the petroleum ministry claimed that all the stakeholders had agreed to the recommendations made by the CNG safety task force headed by the ministry’s joint secretary, almost all the parties concerned started moving in their own directions.

The All Pakistan CNG Association and transporters have rejected several of the recommendations as being impractical.

They said government departments were gradually moving back to the situation where there was no authority to regulate and oversee the standards of cylinders fitted in vehicles.

The task

force

had

decided that the association and transporters would identify 100 sites across Pakistan where the testing process would be started initially.

“Both APCNGA and transport association agreed that standard CNG equipment, testing procedures and fees would be charged so that CNG consumers/commuters are facilitated,” the task force had said.

Chairman APCNGA Ghiyas Paracha told that government departments had started moving independently, creating confusion.

“The Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan, Ogra and even the department of explosives have issued separate advertisements each calling for investors and parties to get licence for establishing CNG testing labs,” Paracha said, adding it was not clear as earlier the ministry had said it would be done by the CNG association.

Similarly, all government departments, including the petroleum ministry, have agreed that the RFID scanners would be installed at CNG stations for monitoring faulty cylinders and kits. The petroleum ministry even claimed: APCNGA assented to the proposal that RFID scanners would be installed at CNG stations.

Whereas the CNG station owners have rejected the idea and said RFID technology was outdated and they had proposed a more modern system to monitor gas leakages.

Apart from the technical side, the transporters have objected to the proposal to limit the number of cylinders in public transport vehicles.

Meanwhile, local car assemblers have suspended procurement of CNG kits from the importers/local manufacturer after government’s decision of banning CNG kits and cylinders.

Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) and Indus Motor Company (IMC) were buying CNG kits (both locally-made and also imported). — Internews