Govt to launch electric buses from Islamabad Zoo to Monal

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said on Wednesday that electric buses will be launched from Islamabad Zoo to Monal under the green stimulus initiative.

Aslam told a meeting of the National Assembly committee that electric buses would also be launched on the mass transit metro bus routes of Lahore and Islamabad. He said that the new initiative would help ensure safe, affordable and emissions-free transport for the citizens.

 He told the meeting that the prime minister has directed to prepare master plans for 80 cities and no housing society would be allowed to use agricultural land until the master plan was ready.

“In case of any genuine need, approval will have to be sought from federal or provincial cabinets. The prime minister has directed all the provinces and the Punjab government has issued a formal notification in this regard,” he told the meeting.

Aslam said that Islamabad’s master plan will also be updated. He said that the master plan of Islamabad was prepared in 1960.

He said that brick kilns were being shifted to zig-zag mode.

Committee Chairperson Munazza Hassan raised the issue of manpower shortage facing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and asked what the ministry was doing to address the issue? She asked what will the -Pak-EPA do when it did not have the manpower. She asked if funds were being allocated for this in the next  Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

Read: "Rawalpindi to get 100 electric buses"

The climate change secretary said that filling up of vacancies in the Pak- EPA had nothing to do with the PSDP. The ministry is taking steps to address the issue in the current budget.

The committee chairperson also expressed displeasure over the non-presence of senior officials of the ministry of industries in the meeting and decided to write a letter to them.

The committee chairperson and members also expressed their disappointment over the shortcomings in the electric vehicle policy for the disposal of expired batteries of vehicles.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2022.