Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that 100 electric AC double decker buses will be added to the fleet of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) in November to reduce the pollution in the city.
Also, this year, 100 electric buses will be added to Dhaka Nagar Paribahan of the capital, said the mayors of the two city corporations.
Although there is apparently no preparation so far, the BRTC authorities are already giving importance to the proper management and maintenance of electric buses.
BRTC Chairman Md Tajul Islam (additional secretary) said: "We are seriously considering the operation of electric buses…How to bring these buses, how to operate them…For this we are in the process of taking various activities.”
According to BRTC sources, the electric buses will be kept at the BRTC depot. Charging stations will be installed there to charge the buses.
However, no repair works or preparations have been undertaken so far, said the officials in charge of several depots.
In this regard, the BRTC chairman said: 'We need charging stations, skilled drivers and technicians to operate electric buses. We are preparing these things under the direction of the minister. For these we have sent for planning. We will start the work once the planning is approved. Since the minister said in November, I hope we can get everything ready within this year.”
On May 9, the mayors of the two city corporations said that 100 electric buses will operate in Dhaka this year.
On April 13, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that out of 300 electric double-decker AC buses for BRTC, 100 buses will arrive in the country in November this year under the Indian loan assistance agreement.
