Environment and Forest Minister Hasan Mahmud Saturday said hybrid electric vehicles can be the future alternative to the existing vehicles, reports UNB.
“Hybrid vehicles are less emitting vehicles. Why aren’t hybrid vehicles becoming popular?” he told the inaugural function of the 7th Stakeholders-cum-Regional Coordination Meeting of Male Declaration on Control & Prevention of Air Pollution organised by the Environment and Forest Ministry in Dhaka.
Tax structure for the production and import of hybrid vehicles could be eased to popularise the use, Mahmud said.
He also noted that the government is working on a roadmap for reducing the sulphur level to 500ppm (parts per million) by 2015 in line with the United Nations Environment Programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said there is a tendency that cars increase in numbers in tandem with the economic growth in any country.
Introduction of transport pooling should be seriously considered by governments of the countries with fast economic growth in order to curb the vehicular pollution, he recommended.
Presided over by Environment and Forests Secretary Shafiqur Rahman Patwary, the function was also addressed by Regional Resources Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRCAP) director general Jonathan Shaw and South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) director general Anura Jayatilake.
