Egypt will not issue licences to new vehicles unless they run on natural gas, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has announced.

The country has set a target to have a million cars to run on natural gas within a year, local media report.

The state will also help car owners to transition to using natural gas by providing a loans to buy newer cars with natural gas tanks.

President Sisi is pushing for the move to preserve the environment as well as utilise the available gas resources in the country and save on the cost of fuel by 50%, in comments attributable to him by local media.