Thai government launches NGV credit card for cabs

BANGKOK, December 15 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over a ceremony, held at the Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thursday morning to launch a natural gas for vehicle (NGV) credit card program for taxi drivers in the capital and its surrounding provinces, aimed at helping the cabs' drivers to cope with rising NGV prices in the country until the end of 2012. Yingluck said that the issuance of the NGV credit card for taxi drivers in Bangkok and peripheral provinces is one of her government’s policies to boost the Thai economy and cushion people’s hardships amid rising costs of living. Under the scheme, taxi drivers in Greater Bangkok holding the credit card are entitled to spend 3,000 baht monthly for filling NGV on credit and a discount of 9,000 baht on NGV until the end of 2012, as the NGV price on the domestic market will be increasing to some 14 baht per litre, in line with its price on the world market. Presently, the retail NGV price at stations is 8.50 baht a litre. A number of taxi drivers were registering for the scheme to receive the NGV credit card. (TNA)