Electric vehicles purchase stalls

Buying electric buses for public-sector transport fleet stalls as the Planning Commission has turned down the procurement project not backed up with fund confirmation from the Indian Line of Credit (LoC), officials said.

"Since BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) has not enclosed any types of project loan confirmation or even assurance documents from the lender, India, we have not proceeded it for approval," said a senior PC official on Monday.

The commission sent the proposal back to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRT&B), he added, thus putting the buy on the backburner.

The ministry had sent a Tk 10.36- billion project of the BRTC to the PC for getting approval for procuring 100 electric double-decker buses with the estimation of a major share of Tk 7.88 billion (US$74 million) from India under its LoC-III lending scheme.

"But the BRTC has not enclosed any document of the project loans or any concrete correspondence with the lender, India, for financing the project. As per government rules and regulations, we cannot proceed without getting confirmation of the source of funds for any project," another PC official said.

BRTC proposed a Tk 10.36-billion project to import 100 double-decker EV buses from India with necessary spare parts and procurement of 7 electric charging stations to run those coasters.

By December 2025, the BRTC wants to set up the charging stations and mobilize the 100 EVs for plying the streets in the capital city, where a traffic chaos has been entrenched for the run of outmoded smaller-sized buses and other commuter vehicles.

The proposed project happens to be government's first initiative to step into the EV era in Bangladesh, as the world is in the cusp of switch to environment-friendly transportation.

Bangladesh's public transport sector is heavily dependent on fuel oils and CNG, which emit carbon.

A MoRT&B official says the BRTC will procure the EV buses to cut dependence on the fossil fuels and reduce the carbon emission that causes environmental pollution.

When asked, the PC official said they would reconsider BRTC's LoC-supported project if the state-run transport corporation recasts the project proposal with the fund confirmation from the lender.

The BRTC is also working to set up some other EV-charging stations across the country through some other grants from development partners in the process of change.

In another project, BRTC and BRTA had proposed setting the up of seven EV-charging stations across the capital city.

Under the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP)-supported Technical Assistance project, the transport authority and the corporation will set up seven other charging stations at a cost of Tk 22.02 million.

The project, titled "Bangladesh enabling electric vehicles adoption (BEEVA) in the framework of sustainable energy-based transportation", has recently been placed for PC seal of approval.

Besides, the BRTC is also going to take up another Tk 1.39-billion-cost project with the financial support of Korea, MoRT&B officials said.

Under the proposed project, it will set up EV-charging station at different places in Dhaka city and its adjacent areas.

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