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Brakes on pollution

Brakes on pollution The crowded streets of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, are in for a green makeover. Even as the polluting baby taxis are on the last leg of their journey, the compressed natural gas (CNG)-driven three-wheeled vehicles (tuktuks in local parlance) are set to be flagged off.

The country's International Project Support Services System Limited (IPSSL) has imported the tuktuks from Thailand. "The vehicle is pollution-free,' said ipssl managing director Haider Uzzaman. While revealing that ipssl would import 1,000 tuktuks by August 2002 from Thai manufacturer Nattachote Industries Company Limited, he added that the vehicles would soon be assembled in Bangladesh in a joint venture with the Thai company. It is hoped that the process will begin by February 2003 at a site near Dhaka. Every year, 500 tuktuks would roll out of the plant. The country has 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in reserves and it is tapping this potential by converting petrol-driven vehicles to CNG.

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