MoU signed to introduce electric buses, other vehicles in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Thursday among Daewoo Express Pakistan, Skywell from China and Hitachi ABB Power Grids from Sweden for introducing electric buses in Pakistan.

Attending signing ceremony at the Sweden Ambassador’s residence on Thursday, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar said: “My doors are always open for business community. When I was in UK I always lobbied for businessmen and now my doors in Governor House in Lahore are always open for businessmen for discussing any problems they are facing to promote their businesses. I always lobbied for businessmen because they generate jobs and contribute taxes.”

The MOU was signed for setting up a value chain for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in Pakistan. The ambassadors of People’s Republic of China, South Korea, Switzerland and Japan also attended the ceremony. The MoU was signed during the ceremony simultaneously in Pakistan, China, Sweden, and Switzerland connected via web-link.

Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said on the occasion that the biggest challenge was deteriorating climate and Prime Minister Imran Khan took steps in shape of tsunami billion tree projects in order to improve environment. Sweden Ambassador said that he was happy to see this happening on the ground. He said that the government of Pakistan was very ambitious to improve climate as Islamabad decided to host World Environment Day this year in Pakistan. He said that they would focus on public transport and electric vehicles policy for bringing facilitation in lives of people of Pakistan.

Under this MoU, Skywell Automobiles China and Daewoo Express Pakistan will collaborate to introduce electric buses and other electric vehicles in Pakistan and create a technical support base in the country with robust charging infrastructure through ABB Hitachi Power Grids. Skywell Automobiles will provide its state of the art electric buses for the Pakistan market in Phase-1, and in Phase-2, shall set up a manufacturing plant for producing electric vehicles in Pakistan.

The Vice Chairman of Daewoo Express Sameer Chishty, Najeeb Ahmed from Hitachi ABB Power Grid, Lt. General (R) Asif Yasin, Chairman Warm Waters Advisory, Pakistan also spoke on the occasion.