Irisbus-Iveco is leading a pilot project, promoted by the Italian Directorate General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to improve the environmental sustainability of transport in Tunisia. The Italian Cooperation has financed two Irisbus-Iveco CityClass buses, powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) engine solution, which Mr. Mariano Foti, Director of the Cooperation Office of the Italian Embassy in Tunis, earlier this month delivered to the General Director of Terrestrial Trasport of the Tunisian Minister of Transport Mr. Mahmoud Benfadhl.

The ceremony for the key delivery has taken place in the framework of the workshop “Sustainable transport and protection of the environment – opportunities and challenges for the cooperation between Tunisia and Italy”, sponsored by Irisbus-veco, which stressed how governmental policies can contribute to improve the air quality, encouraging the renewal of the running park.

This initiative marks continuity in Iveco co-operation with Africa & Middle East Countries, aimed at creating local skills through vocational training actions, which Iveco started in May 2005 in Cairo with the support of the Italian Embassy and the Ministry of Education of Egypt. Iveco co-operation activities in Africa & Middle East strategic markets like Tunisia aim at diversification of energy sources, better environmental impact and improved cost/effectiveness through technical feasibility and economic sustainability criteria.
 

The Iveco Irisbus CityClass CNG 791.12.27 delivered earlier this month in Tunis have the same characteristics as the 470 vehicles which Irisbus-Iveco has recently supplied to ATAC, the public transportion Agency of the Municipality of Rome. These vehicles have a level of emissions below the standard Euro 6, and also fall within the severe limits foreseen for the prospective European EEV (Enhanced Environmental Vehicle) scheme. The CityClass CNG is manufactured in the Irisbus-Iveco plant in Valle Ufita in the province of Avellino.

Iveco employs 32,000 people and runs forty three production units in eighteen countries in the world using excellent technologies developed in 15 research centres. Besides Europe, the company operates in China, Russia, Turkey, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa. More than 4,500 service outlets in over one hundred countries guarantee technical support wherever in the world an Iveco vehicle is at work.