London, Dec. 24, 2019 (AltAfrica)-Gas powered buses are to replace diesel buses in Egypt after Japanese vehicle giant, Toyota Tsusho agreed to manufacture 240,000 minibuses that will run on natural gas for the in Egyptian government. The production will be done in cooperation with the Arab Organization for Industrialization.

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The announcement was made at a meeting in Cairo between a delegation from the firm, chaired by its regional director for Africa, and Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.

The agreement is in line with the desire by the Egyptian authorities to reduce CO ₂ emissions, particularly in the area of ​​public transport.

“The Egyptian government has made the replacement of diesel-powered minibuses with cleaner models a priority and manufacturing these minibuses in the domestic market will boost domestic industry , “ said Nasr, according to Ahram .

For its part, the Japanese delegation praised the incentives recently introduced by the Egyptian investment law to encourage investors, adding that the company is eager to take advantage of the promising opportunities offered by the Egyptian economy.

Toyota Tsusho has already invested around $ 1 billion in Egypt, particularly in the transportation, oil, energy and wind power sectors.

Meanwhile, Cairo has launched a trial operation of its first electric bus, as a prelude to deploy more buses into service at the public transport sector, along with natural-gas powered buses

The Public Transport Authority in Cairo received 20 new natural-gas powered buses, as a second batch of buses a year after these buses entering service.

The first batch included 10 buses. So far, 30 buses out of a total 121 buses entered service so far. This come as part of the government’s efforts to renovate the authority’s bus fleet.

 Agence Ecofin