Capital ‘officially’ rolls out e-buses

Interior minister inaugurates environment-friendly electric bus service

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi inaugurated an environmentally friendly electric bus service on two routes from the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad.

He announced the commencement of 33 additional electric buses today, with a total of 160 buses expected. A temporary charging station has been installed at the Convention Centre to support these buses, benefiting up to 16,000 commuters daily.

Minister Naqvi expressed gratitude for the support from China and Turkey. Following the inauguration, Minister Naqvi personally inspected the buses, even driving one briefly.

CDA Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa, IGP Ali Nasir Rizvi, DIG Syed Ali Raza, and other CDA officials were also present at the event.

Earlier on Friday, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Law and Justice, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar informed the Upper House of the Parliament that 30 electric buses of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) were safely docked at the Jinnah Convention Centre declared as its initial terminal and depot with proper charging and maintenance infrastructure in place.

Responding to the question of Senator Fawzia Arshad on the reasons behind the CDA’s failure to establish depots for public transport buses to be received from China in upcoming months and any precautionary measures taken to ensure protection of the vehicles, the minister said it was the first batch of the buses received from China and two more batches were in the offing.

Senator Tarar said the Chinese company had installed charging stations with a capacity of charging 12 buses at a time within three hours which was sufficient to manage the entire fleet. He added that the soft launch was today, and all measures were in place whereas the members of the House were welcomed to travel in the newly inducted e-buses.

He added that a charging facility at the bus depot in Sector H-9 was also being developed to cater for the 2nd batch of 70 electric buses and would be made operational after one month of mandatory driver’s training.

“The bus depots at Taramri, I-9/H-9 and Zero Point were tendered twice, but unfortunately, the bids received were on a significantly higher than estimated cost and were therefore cancelled. These depots will be tendered again shortly and are expected to be completed within five months,” Senator Tarar said.

Responding to the supplementary query of Senator Humayun Mohmand, he said the transport was a devolved subject and the federal government could only operate e-buses in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). He added that the federal government’s policy was to shift over to renewable energy and friendly policies for solar panels and EVs were introduced. (With additional input from DNA)