LAUGFS to revive autogas

LAUGFS is to revitalize its autogas conversion business to attract more motorists to this product and beat the repeated fuel price hikes. LAUGFS Holdings Chairman W.K.H.Wegapitiya told the Sunday Times FT that Gas Auto Lanka (GAL) Ltd, a LAUGFS subsidiary, still maintain it's market leadership in both autogas conversion sector and manages the biggest and the most expanded autogas retailing network with 21 stations.

He said that the company will launch new initiatives to popularize autogas conversion systems as it will help to bring down the cost of travel. He added that the business had stagnated for few years and the time was now opportune to revitalize it. Almost all unleaded petrol-fuelled vehicles can be converted to LPG autogas at a reasonable cost, he said. The much lower cost of autogas compared to unleaded petrol means the cost of conversion is quickly paid back, Mr. Wegapitiya said. LPG is a cleaner burning fuel than petrol, so engine life is actually extended. He pointed out that dual-fuel autogas systems allow the vehicle to operate on either LPG or unleaded petrol. LAUFGS plans to introduce modern systems for this purpose.

Onversion activities are carried out at four different locations in well equipped workshops with highly trained technical staff. The first motor vehicle to run with LPG on dual fuel basis (International Standard) in Sri Lanka was converted and fixed by GAL technicians in 1994. Since 1995, GAL, as pioneers of Auto LPG concept, has converted 20,000 motor vehicles to the duel fuel sytem in thd automobile industry in Sri Lanka.