The finance ministry will shortly issue an order setting the deadline for December 31, 2005 for conversion of vehicles of government and semi-government bodies and state-owned companies, official said.

In April, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman had set the deadline for September 2005.

Accordingly, the ministry had issued a circular that after the expiry of the deadline the petrol and octane-run vehicles will not get any bill for fuel oil. It also said the government will bear the cost of CNG conversation.

Only the workshops of state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) were designated for the conversion.

But later, the energy ministry realised that the RPGCL alone is not able to convert all the government vehicles by September, sources said.

At the same time, the CNG Filling Station Owners' Association urged the government to give them the opportunity to convert the vehicles of the government, semi-government bodies and the state-run companies.

The sources said the energy ministry, after assessing the situation, proposed extending the deadline for conversion.

It also recommended allowing the government-approved workshops in private sector to convert the vehicles.

"If the time limit is extended, it will be the final deadline for conversion of the government vehicles," State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharaf Hossain told the BDNEWS.

Some 35,000 CNG-run vehicles are now in operation in the country. It saves import cost of fuel oil worth about Tk 250 crore a year.