Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi speaks during the opening of the first and second phases of the housing project "Long Live Egypt", which focuses on development in the country's slums, at Al-Asmarat district in Al Mokattam area, east of Cairo, Egypt May 30, 2016 in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is due to inaugurate on Monday the country’s first exhibition to showcase technologies of converting vehicles to run on natural gas, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.
This comes as part of an Egyptian strategy to convert hundreds of thousands of vehicles to run on natural gas, instead of, or along with, gasoline.
The strategy aims to reduce fuel imports, decrease pollution from harmful emissions, ensure the safety of drivers and passengers, and tap into unexploited auto factories.
The exhibition, dubbed Go Green, is set to be on show until 6 January at the Egypt International Exhibition Centre in Cairo. Government authorities as well as local and international companies specialised in the field are set to take part in the expo.
The show aims at informing companies and the public about the national programmes available to finance the conversion of cars to run on natural gas and the economic and environmental benefits of expanding in the use of natural gas for vehicles, Radi said.
The exhibition will also highlight the mutual cooperation between producing companies and the public sector to support the conversion process.
It will also showcase the research and development programmes in the field and the steps the state has taken to establish the required infrastructure to serve vehicles running on natural gas.
El-Sisi is scheduled to inspect the halls of the exhibition allocated for government authorities and institutions tasked with implementing the conversion initiative, as well as the halls of the international companies displaying models of cars running on natural gas, Radi said.
An entire pavilion has been allocated for ministries, banks, and insurance companies to interact with citizens willing to benefit from the initiative and convert their vehicles to run on natural gas and to inform them about the required procedures.
With the aim of preserving the environment and making use of the country’s plentiful natural gas production, the Egyptian government plans to scrap old and rickety cars manufactured over 20 years ago and replace them with new ones running on natural gas, as well as to convert hundreds of thousands of vehicles to gas-powered models.
In December, El-Sisi demanded to offer citizens, who own rickety vehicles, an appropriate cash incentive to encourage them to replace their vehicles with new ones that run on natural gas.
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