Auto manufacturers await EV Policy to get industrial boost.

ISLAMABAD -- Local car manufacturers are anxiously waiting for Electric Vehicle policy, drafted by the present government to encourage production of battery-run automobiles which would be environment-friendly and cost-effective. 'The government has already sent the draft of the Electric Vehicle Policy to the quarters concerned for formal approval,' said the official source in the Ministry of Climate Change on Wednesday.

After a shocking ratio of vehicular emissions in the ambient air pollution across the country, the present government has drafted Electric Vehicle Policy to usher a new era of green development by promoting electric cars. The automobile industry has welcomed the government's initiative to acquaint the local market with developing trends of the global markets. Interestingly, most of the local automobile producers had manufactured electric motorbikes and cars but are awaiting the policy to be formally approved by the government.

'Around 45 percent of the air pollution comprises vehicular emissions which generated particulate matter of 2.5 microns causing serious health issues mainly respiratory diseases,' Director General Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Farzana Altaf Shah told reporter. The number of fuel-based vehicles, on the other side, is increasing at an alarming pace which was 1,000 vehicles per day in 2018 only in Karachi that has 3.3 million automobiles plying on its roads.

The vehicles number growth is staggering in the federal capital which has over 1.2 million registered vehicles and the growth in number is going on, he said. The Ministry of Climate Change has worked out a comprehensive and inclusive Electric Vehicle policy with detailed stakeholder deliberations to kick start a new industry with the aim to reduce air pollution due to vehicular emissions and the pressing burden of fuel on the country's imports bill. Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam informed that initially the working on the policy framework was first carried out in Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where...