Land Transport Federation of Thailand chairman Yu Jianyuenyongpong said the energy giant PTT Plc's plan to increase the retail price of NGV next year would have devastating effects.
PTT said it would lift NGV retail prices from 8.50 baht a kilogramme to 11 baht a kilogramme on Jan 1.
The federation and other transport associations will meet tomorrow in Nakhon Sawan to come up with ideas for the government to solve the problem.
They will ask the government to fix the NGV price at the current rate and to consider lowering it at a later date.
Their members will also move to lay siege to the Energy Ministry and the PTT's office to press for the reduction of the NGV price.
Mr Yu said PTT had previously encouraged car manufacturers and car owners to switch to alternative fuel when diesel prices were high.
Car manufacturers had to buy equipment related to NGV systems to keep the costs down. Many of them had to take out loans for millions of baht to invest in the NGV system, Mr Yu said.
He said the PTT's planned NVG price rise would push transport operators' costs up by as much as 38%, which would lead to transport fares increasing by 5%.
"The NGV price hike runs counter to the state policy to reduce transport fares," he said. "It is a complete rip-off."
He urged the government to consider reducing the prices of other kinds of fuel and to support the expansion of more NGV filling stations to cut oil imports from overseas.
There are about 120,000 vehicles running on NGV. They include 20,000 trucks, 4,000 buses and 20,000 taxis.
Mr Yu said even though the PTT had a monopoly over the NGV service, it had still suffered losses of about 6.8 billion baht over the last three years. This may be because of mismanagement on the part of the company, he said.
He also urged the PTT to disclose the figures of the real costs of diesel fuel.The global oil price is at US$40 per barrel and the domestic price should be at between 13-14 baht per litre. But the pump price stands at 18-19 baht per litre, he said.
(Bangkok Post:05/01/2009)