Sindh Transport Minister Syed Owais Shah on Tuesday inaugurated Pakistan’s first electric bus in the metropolis.
The minister said that passengers will have to pay Rs4 per kilometer to travel in electric buses. The fare from one stop to another stop would be Rs10.
In the beginning, the 37 electric buses will operate on the route connecting Tower to Sohrab Goth.
The Minister said that the Sindh government will soon issue tenders for 250 new buses, adding that 100 buses will be introduced in Karachi in the near future.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to congratulate the Sindh government, especially Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his ministry, on their “remarkable step to add electric bus in Karachi Commuters system”.
“We would suggest this project to the Sindh government through the governor,” the minister said, adding he would also meet Sindh Chief Minister, Murad Ali Shah, in the next visit to Karachi and request him to switch the public transport in Karachi to electricity.
Last year in December, the federal cabinet had approved Pakistan’s first Electric Vehicle Policy.
The Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy and the Mobile Manufacturing Policy were endorsed by the federal cabinet following their approval by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on December 16.
Last month, the Ministry of Science and Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to initiate an electric bus service in Islamabad.
At the occasion, the federal minister noted that the electric bus service in the capital city will benefit about 48,000 commuters daily.
The electric buses will also cause eight times less pollution in the atmosphere. Electric buses have 30% lower maintenance costs in comparison to the common diesel buses.
The minister further explained that electric buses will save approximately 30,000 barrels of fuel and Rs500 million in a year in addition to the environmental benefits.
