Islamabad: Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Friday informed the Upper House of Parliament that 30 electric buses of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) have been safely parked at the Convention Center which has been announced as the initial terminal. . have proper filling and maintenance infrastructure.
Responding to Senator Fawzia Arshad’s question about the reason why the CDA has not set up a warehouse for the public buses that will be taken from China in the coming months and the measures taken to ensure the safety of the vehicles, the minister informed that this is the first batch. a bus from China and two more batches have been approached.
Senator Tarar said the Chinese company has installed a charging station with the capacity to charge 12 buses at a time, which is enough to run the entire fleet.
He said the soft launch took place today and members of the chamber are welcome to travel on the newly introduced E-bus.
He also added that the charging facility at the bus depot in Sector H-9 has also been designed to cater to the 2nd batch of 70 electric buses and will be commissioned after one month of mandatory driver training.
“All in all, the I-9/H-9 and Zero Point bus depot bid twice, but unfortunately, the bid received was significantly higher than the estimated cost and therefore canceled. This warehouse will be tendered again soon and is expected to be completed in five months,” he said. Senator Tarar.
Responding to a supplementary question from Senator Humayun Mohmand, he said that transport has been resolved and the federal government can operate e-buses only outside the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
He said the federal government is changing renewable energy and introducing friendly policies for solar panels and EVs.
“The import of luxury vehicles above 2,500cc has been restricted to provide basic comfort to the general public for leisure purposes and the government will encourage small users to choose EVs. “EVs and e-buses in the future have been given a policy and introduced in the country because they are environmentally friendly, which will help save fuel and currency,” he said.
Earlier, Senator Danesh Kumar asked the minister to remind the security measures taken to reduce the risk of explosion or accident at the facility.
Senator Humayun Mohmand termed the induction of E-bus mass transport fleet as a positive development for the transition through E-bus and focus on public transport. He asked the minister to explain the future prospects of launching e-buses across the country.
