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Vehicles powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are on the rise in Tanzania. Aside from being cheaper than ordinary fuels, the drivers argue that the vehicles have lesser emissions.

Honest Mushi, a taxi driver said that to make US$40, a driver using petrol would spend at least US$16 on fuel. “You can’t compare that to someone using gas who spends just $8 and makes the same amount of money,” Mushi told CGTN Africa.

The Tanzanian government encouraged the switch that costs around US$800 per conversion, and plans on converting its fleet of vehicles from petrol or diesel to CNG.

The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation licensed 20 companies to build CNG filling stations and nine are expected by 2025.

A section of environmentalists hailed CNG as a cleaner fuel compared to diesel and petrol, but also pointed out some of its drawbacks.

“It still exacerbates the impacts of climate change from its extraction to its usage – because it is methane. Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide,” said Careen Mwakitalima, an environmentalist.