Sindh govt introduces first electric-powered bus in Karachi

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Tuesday introduced the first-ever electric bus in Karachi.  The inauguration of the bus was done by the Sindh Transport Minister, Awais Qadir Shah.

The minister said that the buses will be fully electrically powered and will not require to run on fuel. It should be noted that electric buses draw electricity from a power grid and store it in a battery. 

"The provincial government has planned to increase the number of buses each month," the minister said, according to a report by Geo.tv. 

He added that since 2017, the amount of work the government should have done to develop the transport sector in the province was insufficient. 

"The Sindh government will soon issue tenders for 250 new buses," Awais Qadir Shah announced. Meanwhile, he said that 100 buses will be introduced in Karachi in the near future.

"Passengers will have to pay Rs4 per kilometre to travel in electric buses," he said. "At the beginning, the electric bus will operate on the route connecting Tower to Sohrab Goth."

Appreciating the move of the Sindh government, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said that the move to add an electric bus to Karachi Commuters System is a "remarkable step."

"The Ministry of Science & Technology is fully behind Sindh govt in this futuristic approach. Hope Punjab and KP [will] also take [the] same route ASAP," Chaudhry wrote on Twitter.