KARACHI, Nov 20: The federal government has decided to grant a Rs500 million subsidy to new bus operators during the current financial year, Karachi Mass Transit Cell chief Malik Zaheer said here on Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting of prospective transporters, he highlighted the programme for induction of 8,000 buses for 10 major cities of the country, and said that out of these, 4,000 dedicated CNG buses would be for Karachi.

He said 500 buses would be inducted during the current financial year for which the federal government had agreed to provide Rs500 million for interest subsidy to new bus operators. The meeting was attended by representatives of 24 local and international CNG bus suppliers/manufacturers, including those from the United States, India and Korea.

In another meeting held earlier in the day with the prospective investors and operators, Malik Zaheer gave a briefing to the participants about the facilities and incentives being offered by the government.

Representatives of over 12 firms based in the United States, Turkey, etc present at the meeting asked several questions regarding availability of CNG, provision of fuelling stations, subsidy on capital investment and safeguard measures, besides fares and route allocation policy.

They were of the view that a friendly policy covering all these issues was essential for making the project sustainable and affordable. The federal and Sindh government representatives at the meeting responded to the queries.

The participants were informed that they could submit their request for statement of qualification by Dec 15, 2008.