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The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has emerged the first Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) of government to begin the conversion of its operational vehicles to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in line with the federal government’s drive to reduce the cost of governance due to the current economic crunch.
The Managing Director of FERMA, Mr. Emeka Agbasi, revealed this when he hosted the Programme Director of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, Mr Michael Oluwagbemi at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies yesterday in Abuja, saying that the cost of Premium Motor Spirit and diesel contributed substantial to the recurrent expenditure of the agency with its fleet of vehicles spread across the country.
He said that the conversion of FERMA’s vehicles will cut costs for the agency between 40 and 70 per cent, adding that the MoU will be for the first four years and renewable for another four as the framework aims to deepen the collaboration between the two agencies.
On his part, the programme officer of the PCNGI, Mr Oluwagbemi said that the initiative will convert all commercial vehicles owned by the road transport unions free of charge, while it will subsidise the companies by 50 per cent to convert their vehicles.
The move, he said is to drive down the cost of transportation as the CNG is way more cheaper, cleaner, and sustainable than fuel.
The Pi-CNG said that it has a goal to convert over two million cars in collaboration with its private sector partners who have already begun the process in various centres across the country.
FERMA as part of its role in the MoU is “to enable access roads to Pi-CNG priority facilities, including identified LNG sites, warehouses areas, and routes for the virtual pipeline network.
“Lead the identification and prioritisation of road maintenance and development needs, especially in Pi-CNG’s core areas.
“Ensure compliance with regulatory and policy frameworks for CNG and EV Projects.”
