Imran launches Pak’s first locally made electric bike
The launch of the electric motorcycle is part of the PTI govt’s five-year Pakistan Electric Vehicles Policy 2020-2025, approved last year
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday launched Pakistan’s first ever locally manufactured electric motorcycle.
He told a ceremony that the launch of the electric motorcycle was a futuristic step and that his government’s new electric vehicle (EV) policy laid down a plan and defined a direction for the future.
The launch of the electric motorcycle is part of the present government’s five-year Pakistan Electric Vehicles Policy 2020-2025, approved last year. The policy envisages targeting a robust electric vehicle market having a 30 per cent and 90 per cent share in passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks by 2030 and 2040, respectively.
The prime minister said the EV policy was part of the larger initiative of making the country clean and green.
“EVS, particularly electric motorcycles as they are used more, will have to be introduced in cities to curb pollution,” Imran said. “When you decide to keep your air, water and cities clean, you have to take initiatives like the 10 Billion Tsunami Programme,” he said and lamented that Pakistan was one of the few countries with minimal tree cover.
The prime minister said another step that the government had taken to increase the tree cover was the seting up of national parks.
He said it was for the first time that measures Pakistan was taking to improve the environment were being acknowledged internationally. “The world now recognises Pakistan as one of the few countries that are leading the campaign against global warming.”
Imran stressed the need for long-term planning, terming it crucial for a country’s progress.
“Countries that have progressed thought about the future,” the premier said, giving the example of China.
The prime minister said if policies in a country kept on changing from election to election, the country would have no roadmap for the future.
“Policies have to be devised for the long term so that we leave a roadmap for future generations,” he emphasised.
The premier also announced that the government was preparing master plans for cities. Particularly giving the example of Islamabad in this regard, he regreted that tree cover in the capital had reduced significantly over the years, which he said was due to a lack of planning.
“And so we are making master plans for cities, and some of these plans are due to be completed in six months,” he said. “We will be focusing on water treatment, discharge of waste and installation of [waste] treatment plants (as part of the plans).”
With regards to Lahore and Peshawar, the premier recalled that the cities were once called the cities of gardens. “But now pollution has increased to such an extent, especially in Lahore, that it poses threats to human life,” he said.
Similarly, in Karachi, sewage was being dumped into the sea, he said, again atributing these problems to the lack of long-term planning. “We are working on long-term plans for these cities for the first time in Pakistan,” the prime minister said.
He added the government was also taking measures to ensure that the country did not face a current account deficit and to restore people’s confidence that the taxes they pay would not be squandered.
Also during the day, Imran has appointed Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti as his Special Assistant (SAPM), a move seen as laying the groundwork for initiating a dialogue with the “angry” Baloch elements.
Bugti, a member of the National Assembly from NA-259, was appointed as the SAPM on Reconciliation and Harmony in Balochistan, according to an official notification.
The appointment of Bugti, a grandson of former Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, is part of major changes in the province, which included the replacement of Governor Amanullah Yasinzai with Zahoor Agha.
The move also comes ater back-to-back initiatives at the highest level to try to bring the disgruntled Baloch elements into the mainstream and restore the law and order in the province.