The Metal Fabrication Academy in Calabar has been designated by the Cross River government as a hub for converting petrol or diesel cars to compressed natural gas (CNG).
In a Monday interview in Calabar with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Ekpenyong Cobham, the Commissioner for Transportation for Cross River, revealed this.
According to NAN, compressed natural gas (CNG) is a less expensive, cleaner, and more effective fuel for cars than conventional petrol and diesel. It is also pure, odourless, and non-corrosive natural gas under pressure.
Cobham stated that CNG was a low-hanging fruit, adding that the state was funding the project to lessen the hardships of citizens brought on by the country’s rising fuel prices.
He claimed that it would take six months to install some of the necessary infrastructure, such a mother station, and that the state was working towards that goal.
“The benefit of CNG will soon begin to drop so that we will be able to crash the cost of transportation in the state by 50 per cent.
“We are in touch with the presidential committee on CNG for the conversion of vehicles from fuel to CNG and we will be starting up with 500 free packages which they will be paying.
“The state government was also coming in with discussions with commercial Banks to help vehicle owners who may not be able to do a one-off payment for the conversion process to be able to do so in 36 months,” he stated.
The commissioner stated that although conversion costs varied depending on the kind of car, the least expensive was approximately N500,000 because of the country’s currency rate. Nevertheless, the state was making great efforts to collaborate with commercial banks to guarantee that payments were distributed.
In addition to starting the CNG project, he said the state was in the process of finalising a complex electric car agreement with a major participant in the market to establish a long-term assembly factory in the state.
