'Karachi's public transport to be converted into electric buses'

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday vowed to convert Karachi’s public transport into electric buses, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference here in Karachi, the science and technology minister said that efforts are underway to make Islamabad as the first-ever city of Pakistan to convert its public transport into electric vehicles in near future.

“There is no doubt that Karachi is facing issues of public transport and the present government will fix this problem soon,” he said, adding that the federal government will talk with the provincial government for converting Karachi’s transporting into electric vehicles.

Chaudhry noted that global warming and climate change are attributed over 25 percent to transport and thus concluded that shifting to electric mode of public transportation will be a good initiative towards environment protection.

Last month, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Capital Development Authority to mark their interest in shifting public transport towards electric buses.

Chaudhry said talking to media that initially 30 electric buses will be run in the capital city which will be able to serve 48 thousand commuters across. He added that this will save 30 thousand barrels of fuel around the year.

Read: Pakistan to import 120 electric buses this year: Fawad Chaudhry

The federal minister said the ideal rate to reap the benefits of shifting towards battery-powered buses will be to shift 40 percent of overall public transport to electronic buses in the first ten years.

He said that a designated three-wheeler mode of transportation will be introduced for female commuters in the city.