The Federal Government has yet again come forward with one innovative step regarding the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations on motorways across Pakistan. This initiative was taken after the introduction of EV charging stations in Islamabad.
The launching ceremony was held in Islamabad and was attended by Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudary who addressed the media regarding this new venture. He said that the PTI government had a vision of converting public transport into electric vehicles in metropolitan cities of Pakistan, and the initial steps are already taken in this regard.
He spoke at the ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Science and Technology and the British company, EGV Limited, for the manufacturing of electric buses in the country.
According to the Minister, EGV Limited is the largest bus manufacturing company in Europe and they will be assembling electric buses in Pakistan. He further added that this is the second agreement that the Government has signed with a foreign country in this regard.
In the first phase of the plan, the buses will be available in three major cities of Pakistan; Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, but in the next 2 to 3 years, the whole motorway network will be facilitated with electric vehicle charging installation. Furthermore, within the next ten years, nearly 40 percent of all public transport buses will be shifted to electric vehicles.
Criticizing the former provincial government of Punjab over Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project, Chaudhry said, “Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had spent Rs 60 billion on Orange Line project and the present government has to give an annual subsidy of Rs 12 billion for the project.”
This is to be noted here, that about three months ago, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) installed Islamabad’s first EV charging station in the F sector of the city. We really wish to see the Government’s vision making way to reality in order to overcome the vicious threats of air pollution faced by Pakistan today.
