Sindh to prefer electric vehicles in official fleet purchases

Sindh will give electric vehicles preference in every future purchase of official cars and gradually replace the petrol and diesel vehicles used by provincial departments, a cabinet committee decided in Karachi.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Austerity chaired by Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, who also holds the information, transport and mass transit portfolios. The committee approved new vehicle purchases for the Home Department, the Anti-Corruption Establishment and the Universities and Boards Department.

Minute Mirror reported that the approval also covered the Services, General Administration and Coordination Department. ARY News and UrduPoint named only the first three departments.

Memon said conserving public resources is among the provincial government's top priorities and that the measures would cut expenditure while protecting the environment. "The future belongs to electric vehicles, and the government wants public institutions to reduce their dependence on fuel," he said, according to ARY News. He said the phased shift would lower the day-to-day operating costs of departments.

Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah told the meeting that emissions from conventional vehicles are damaging urban air quality, and said electric vehicles were also being promoted in local government institutions. UrduPoint reported that provincial secretaries and other officials attended the meeting.

UrduPoint described the forum as a meeting of the "Cabinet Committee on Economy", also chaired by Memon, while ARY News and Minute Mirror called it the Cabinet Committee on Austerity. ARY News alone reported that the meeting was held on Friday.

No number of vehicles to be replaced, no timeline for the transition and no cost estimate was given at the meeting.