Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-ir) -- Peru's Minister of Mines and Energy, Juan Valdivia, has announced the inauguration of 3 new fuel stations that will service natural-gas vehicles (NGV). The natural-gas fuel stations will be inaugurated within the next few weeks in the regions of Lima and Callao to meet the demand of motorists who have had their car's converted to run on natural gas.

On June 8th the Minister himself inaugurated a new station in the district of Independencia. This is the first station of its kind in the northern part of Lima. The new station is able to service 100 cars per hour.

"We should be happy that the effort investors have made, particularly in the fuel sector, is now paying off. The government will be close-by to assist them in whatever they may need," stated Valdivia.

He pointed out that when he took office, only one company, Peruana de Combustibles (Pecsa), had a natural-gas fuel station. Now there are nine stations to meet the high demand for this fuel.

Valdivia explained, "Each fuel station can serve 800 vehicles and more stations will be opening soon. We request that motorists convert their cars to natural gas. There are 50 authorized conversion stations you can go to. The Corporacion Financiera de Desarrollo (Cofide) is providing loans for those who would like to convert their vehicles."

"The price of gasoline goes up almost everyday and their are constant arguments between the ministry and specialists, we need motorists to convert to natural gas so they will not have to pay such high prices."

Valdivia assured that the price of natural gas will remain the same for the next 5 years and after that it can only be increased by a maximum of 5%.