Believe or not, there is only "one testing centre' of Hydrocarbon Development Institution of Pakistan (HDIP) in the city for the inspection of CNG cylinders for about one million automobiles converted on compressed natural gas (CNG) since 1993.

This included over 20,000 vehicles of public transport which have been converted to CNG in the last two years. They are using mostly used CNG cylinders to cut conversion cost.

General manager HDIP, Mohammad Habib-ur-Rehman told APP that soon 3 to 4 CNG testing centres will be opened in the main areas of city under the management of private sector. This will facilitate CNG vehicle owners to get tested their cylinders within their vicinity, he added.

He said that HDIP will be opening CNG cylinder testing centres in other cities of Pakistan under the management of private sector.

He said it take five to six days to examine CNG cylinder at our testing centre due to rush. This time will be reduced to one or two days after the opening of more centres in the city. Their inspection staff will be provided training by HDIP experts for testing CNG kits and cylinders, he noted.

Abrar Saleem, owner of CNG car said that HDIP should open testing centres in the main centres of the city to facilitate CNG users. HDIP CNG cylinder testing centre is located far away and you need to take off from your office to drop your cylinder at the testing centre, he added.

Another CNG car owner Rasheed Malik said that his cylinder is six years old, but he could not get tested it for several reasons. "I am in sales business and work seven days a week and therefore could not find time to visit HDIP testing centre in Korangi. Besides, not a single CNG filling station has ever bothered to check the cylinder or refuse to fill the cylinder", he said.

GM HDIP Rehman has confirmed that burnt, used and substandard cylinders are being used in public transport. This should be stopped to save the life of passengers in the public transport, he remarked.

Pakistan has emerged as the leader on world map among countries having largest number of CNG vehicles. By the mid of 2011, about 3 million CNG vehicles were on the roads of Pakistan, leaving behind Iran (1.96 million vehicles) which was previously ranked as number one in the world followed by Argentina (1.95 million) and Brazil (1.6 million vehicles).

Similarly, the number of filling stations has also crossed 3,200 mark, but the government could not develop a proper network for the inspection of CNG kits and cylinders in these vehicles.

Contrary to the rampant growth in the number of CNG vehicles and their filling stations in the country, there are only three inspection centers for examining these vehicles located main cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. These three points cannot cope up with the rising demand for inspection of these vehicles.