One acre of land in southwestern Tobago will be provided by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for a compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel station.

The gas station will allow the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to employ their new CNG buses on the island once the station is completed.

THA Chief Secretary Orville London and the Secretary of the Division of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (DIPU) Gary Melville met with officials of the state-owned Trinidad & Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) and PTSC yesterday (August 4, 2015) at the Administrative Complex, Calder Hall to discuss plans for the new station.

London said the THA was committed to the venture. Officials have set up a committee, which will meet next Tuesday (August 11th) to deliberate on three prospective sites for the station.

“Their mandate is to have that done by the 18th of August,” the Chief Secretary said. “Based on that report, we will then be in a position to determine how we go about operationalising.”

London said there are a number of issues that will restrict the areas they can choose for the site, including the need to lay a gas line from the plant at the Cove Industrial Park.

The THA, however, will still pursue its plans to purchase 25 buses for the island because the CNG station will take at least 18 months to be completed once construction starts. Those buses will be utilised by the Assembly, the Maxi Taxi Association and the PTSC. Currently, less than ten of the required 30 buses are operational in Tobago.

“The Tobago House of Assembly is highly supportive of this initiative to bring CNG to Tobago,” London said, adding that the THA will collaborate with various agencies to ensure the project is completed as soon as possible.

London was “heartened” by the assurance from PTSC Assistant Deputy General Manager of Operations for Tobago, Henry Cook, that the CNG buses have the power and capacity to operate “in any part of Tobago.”