Singapore - Singapore is to become the first country in South-East Asia to obtain German-engineered buses designed to be kind to the environment and accessible to disabled passengers, a public transport firm said Thursday.

The first of the Mercedes-Benz buses is to hit the road in mid-May and another 66 are to be rolled out between August and December, the SMRT Corp said.

The vehicles, which cost about 300,000 Singapore dollars (223,000 US dollars), release fewer greenhouse gases than regular bases and can be lowered, making it easier for the elderly and wheelchair-bound passengers to board, SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa said.

The buses exceed the Land Transport Authority's current standards that require 40 per cent of all buses to be less polluting by 2010. The new bus beats the guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 per cent.

Harmful emissions from the buses are converted to nitrogen and water vapour, SMRT said. (dpa)