Abu Dhabi, Oct 07th, 2007 (WAM): For the first time in the emirate, Hafilat Industries, a local bus body building company based in Abu Dhabi industrial city, has just released their first production of 46 seater buses to Abu Dhabi Municipality Public Transport Department.

Hafilat has plans to move to more extended plants from its current temporary premises where it built the two buses.

The Joint venture between Australian bus maker Volgren - Dandenong and local investors has put the first low entry (no stairs) city bus ever in Abu Dhabi in service; the bus is made on Volvo B-12 famous chassis engine.

Hafilat Volvo city bus (- euro-4) is fully air-conditioned and can accommodate more than 20 passengers seated and another 20 standing.

Abu Dhabi municipality has routed the bus to chattel between Abu Dhabi and marina mall via Hamdan street. Public have showed huge enthusiasm to use this state of art bus and enjoyed the ride, according to Mehanadi , supervisor municipality bus operation The second bus is inter-city bus made on Mercedes chassis and engine, to run between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well to al Ain. The buses were put on trial for Abu Dhabi international airport to the city.

Hafilat- Mercedes bus (euro-3) has all the lavish accessories of comfort seats with arm rest ,safety belts, folding trays, CCTV and DVD screens, tented glass, and effective air condition, according to Ahmad bin Rashid al Rashidi , head of public transport at Abu Dhabi municipality The buses were made in accordance to the Australian stringent standards for public buses and road safety codes under licensed from Volgren Australia who owns 15pc of the local factory in Musaffah. The Volgren design is made 100pc from aluminum and has no welding ( similar construction to the aviation ) .Modular aluminum system gives reduction in dead weight ,which save energy, and reduce tires consumption, better insulate techniques on the body panels, and ease of maintenance by replacing damaged module The grand opening of Hafilat in the ICAD is expected in Feb next year. The production will be around 100 buses for the first year, while the full capacity for the factory is 300 bus/year