Senate panel urges infrastructure for EVs

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production has urged the government to expedite the development of infrastructure to facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).

The committee met under the chair of Senator Aon Abbas and discussed the state of EV prevalence and the status of policy.

The committee members noted that climate change is currently a serious issue, and if vehicles continue to run on fossil fuels, the situation will worsen significantly; therefore, immediate and serious efforts are required in this regard.

Members pointed out that even major cities like Lahore lack EV charging stations, and this is even more pronounced in distant areas.

Briefing the committee, the officials of the Engineering Development Board (EDP) informed that a comprehensive EV policy has been prepared and is ready for presentation.

However, they are awaiting time from the prime minister.

Consequently, the committee recommended that a formal letter be sent to the premier requesting that time be allocated for EDP to present its EV policy.

The meeting decided to constitute a subcommittee under the chairmanship of Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee to suggest an effective EV policy to the government.

The meeting also discussed the role, functions and achievements of Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC).

The committee was told and briefed that at the time of its creation, Pakistan did not inherit any indus-trial base.

East & West Pakistan combined had only 34 factories out of a total of 921 industrial units in the Subcontinent, which is merely 3.6 per cent of the total.

The committee was informed that the East wing produced 70pc of the world’s jute, but there was not a single jute mill and West Bengal (India) was almost the sole buyer.

In the west wing, only 16,000 of the total 1,500,000 cotton bales produced could be processed domestically.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2025