|
SOME
compressed natural gas (CNG)-fired buses will now be
plying from as far as Batangas and Laguna to
Manila
with the government’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for
Public Transport (NGVPPT) finally getting a green light
after several years of delay.
“This
station will soon help lessen the country’s dependence
on imported oil as well as carbon emissions in
accordance with the Kyoto Protocol,” President Arroyo
said in her keynote speech at the launch of Pilipinas
Shell Petroleum Corp.’s CNG daughter station at the
northbound Biñan service station along the South Luzon
Expressway.
The
Chief Executive commended Shell for finally commencing
the commercial operation of its CNG daughter refilling
station. She thanked the bus operators who stayed
committed to the project despite the delays it faced.
She
noted that 22 CNG-fired buses are already in the country
and she expects 200 CNG-fired buses within six months.
Under
the NGVPPT, CNG will be sold at P14.52 a cubic meter for
seven years.
Shell’s
CNG will be exclusively sold to buses accredited by the
Department of Energy (DOE) plying the Laguna-Cubao/Lawton
and Batangas-Cubao/Lawton routes under a seven-year
pilot program.
The
clean, indigenous gas is extracted from the Malampaya
well, 80 kilometers northwest offshore
Palawan,
compressed at a mother station in Batangas and
transported to the Biñan daughter station.
“The
government has encouraged this project, not because of
its economic implications, but also out of its
commitment to reduce air pollution,” said Edgar O. Chua,
country chairman of Shell Group of Companies in the
Philippines.
The
Shell official congratulated the government for this
milestone in the local fuels industry.
He
expressed a commitment to support the government push to
make CNG an alternative fuel that will power the local
public-transport sector.
As a key
player in the natural-gas sector, Shell is committed to
push for the use of natural gas, according to Chua.
“Shell
has found success developing CNG in other parts of the
world and it is our intention to do the same in the
country,” Chua said.
Supposedly operational by September 2005, Shell CNG
operations were deferred to June this year due to
“technical problems” in the mother station located in
Tabangao, Batangas and its daughter station in Biñan,
Laguna along the South Luzon Tollway.
The (NGVPPT)
provides incentives to participants, such as: income tax
holiday for pioneering projects qualifying under the
BOI’s Investment Priorities Plan; zero rate of duty on
imported NGV industry- related equipment, facilities,
parts and components; preferential and exclusive
franchises from LTFRB for NGVs on newly opened routes;
accelerated issuance by the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) of environmental compliance
certificate (ECC) for NGV facilities and refueling
stations; affordable and commercially tenable financial
packages from GFIs, among others.
At least
22 of the 200 buses the Department of Energy (DOE)
targets to have for the pilot program are already out on
the streets, and of the 200 buses, 185 buses have
already been committed by the seven bus operators to the
government.
The DOE
has accredited seven bus operators that committed to
acquire 185 CNG buses by the end of the year. These are
HM Transport Inc., 80 units; RRCG Transport System
Inc., 20 units; KL CNG Bus Transport Corp., 40 units;
Pascual Liner Inc., 20 units; Greenstar Express, 10
units; Biñan Bus line, 5 units; and CNG Vehicles Corp.,
10 units. |
