RAWALPINDI, Feb 7: Local transporters have refused Punjab government’s offer to provide them compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to operate in the city from March.

The provincial government planned to run 500 CNG buses on different routes in Rawalpindi and Islamabad to improve public transport.

Under the plan, as many as 100 buses purchased from China would be provided to the transporters in Rawalpindi on easy installments.

The government also offered 20 per cent operational subsidy to the bus owners.

In this regard, Commissioner Zahid Saeed called a meeting of the transporters to persuade them to purchase the buses but the latter did not accept the offer.

Sources said the transporters expressed reservations over what they said the politically motivated bus scheme, adding it was apparently a supply-driven, not a demand-driven project.

The transporters said the chief minister purchased 557 CNG-fitted buses from China and was now trying to waste the money of the transporters. They said the government should have taken the stakeholders on board before procurement of the vehicles.

“Former district nazim Raja Tariq Kiani had purchased four Chinese CNG buses to run between Rawat and Raja Bazaar but the experience failed,” said Malik Mehboob, a transporter who attended the meeting on Tuesday.

He said the engines of these buses developed faults after covering the distance from Soan River to Jhelum Road near Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench.

He alleged that the government had purchased low quality buses and the venture was not more than wastage of money and time for investors and transporters. The transporters also raised the issue of students’ fare, he said, adding the bus owners would not give concession to students. The transporters also expressed concerns over unavailability of CNG three days a week.

Muttahida Transporter Ittehad chairman Sultan Awan said they were not willing to get the CNG buses even on installments.

When contacted, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar said CNG buses would be launched on 11 routes from March. He said the government would give subsidy of 20 per cent to the bus owners besides replacing the spare-parts of the vehicles, including tyres and batteries, for five years free of cost.

The commissioner while talking to Dawn said: “We have given one-week time to the local investors and transporters to reconsider their decision or form a consortium to run the buses.”

He said the government would give the buses, costing Rs8.2 each, on easy installment to the transporters. The students’ fare and other issues would also be resolved. He said the transporters would also be assured that CNG would be provided to these buses during weekly loadshedding.