LTFRB seeks public transport’s ‘100% use’ of CNG by 2010
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:24:00 06/09/2008
Filed Under: Transport, Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
MANILA, Philippines -- To help ease the burden of the public transport sector amid the continuing rise in the prices of fuel, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) is gearing up for the use of 100 percent compressed natural gas (CNG) of public utility vehicles (PUVs) by 2010.
“By 2010, all buses, taxis, and jeepneys, should be CNG operated,” Chairman Thompson Lantion disclosed in a press conference on Monday.
Lantion said CNG was cheaper than diesel since a liter would only cost from P20 to P25.
“This will be our direction. We will no longer be dependent on diesel because CNG is made locally so it is cheaper,” he said.
CNG would be obtained at the Malampaya Natural Gas off the shores of Palawan province, Lantion said.
Apart from CNG, the LTFRB also plans to use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to replace diesel.
Lantion also revealed that the opening of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 would be “very soon.”
Although he refused to elaborate, Lantion said the opening could be within the month.
On Independence Day, Lantion said LTFRB and the Department of Transportation and Communication would also officially start the construction of the “closed loop” that would connect Light Rail Transit Line (LRT) 1’s Monumento Station to Metro Rail Transit’s (MRT) North Avenue Station.
The first hybrid PUVs running on LPG, CNG, and electricity would be unveiled during the LTFRB anniversary on June 16, Lantion said.
On May 22, Transportation and Communication secretary Leandro Mendoza said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo released a P1 billion budget to allow PUVs to loan to convert their engines to hybrids.
There would be LPG jeepneys, diesel electric cars, CNG electric cars, and 100% CNG-operated PUVs, Lantion said.
“We would also reveal metered taxis with receipt, with the uniform yellow bodies,” Lantion said.
But the LTFRB chief admitted that electricity-operated PUVs were not feasible at the moment.
“These are classified as low speed cars that won’t work in the metro. These are better in villages,” he said.
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