Lahore: Advisor to Prime Minister (PM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam recently announced that the federal government was working on a proposal to launch electric buses in Lahore, in a bid to fight rising levels of pollution in the city — a news source reported.
Aslam was addressing the inaugural ceremony of an urban forest in Liberty Market, Lahore. He revealed that the government was keen on adopting the required measures for cutting down environmental pollution. He added that these measures included gradually switching to Euro-5 fuel and that a meeting had been scheduled for later this month to discuss the matter further.
The PM’s advisor stated that the use of upgraded fuel would also reduce pollution due to vehicle emissions. He added that Lahore would soon have electric buses running on its road. He further talked about the government’s announcement to launch electric buses countrywide. He mentioned that the federal government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private ride-hailing service for this purpose.
According to the MoU signed, the company would launch battery-powered buses, along with investing PKR 12 billion to broaden its transport bus services in the country.
Aslam informed the ceremony that the government was also collaborating with the private sector to install a vehicle inspection system in Lahore. He added that some inspection stations had already been installed.
The government is expected to announce its Electric Vehicle Policy next month, Aslam said. He revealed that during the first stage, all two- and tri-wheelers in Lahore would switch to electric batteries and that these batteries would reduce the running cost of vehicles by 70% as compared to traditional fuel options.
The advisor said that after the policy’s first phase, public transport would switch to electric/hybrid technology. He added that another initiative of the incumbent government in regards to environmental protection was to change people’s behaviour in all cities through the Clean & Green Index. Reportedly, the initiative has already been launched in over 300 locations in Punjab, all within two weeks.
