THE government has been planning to introduce environment-friendly electrical vehicles, which will run on rechargeable batteries. The government has announced tax exemptions for importers and manufacturers of electric vehicles. No doubt this is a better option in these times of growing climate concern as well as a worthy step in a pandemic-hit economy.

But this plan may face impediments, for Pakistan is already facing electricity shortfall. In such a situation, there will be another burden on the national power grid. On the other hand, the Orange line metro is also exploiting the national power generation.

This measure will have a major impact on electricity consumption in the coming summer. I think the government should first take measures to meet the energy needs according to the demand before initiating a plan which will consume a massive amount of electricity.

Ammar ul Hassan Chishty
Lahore

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2021