A project has been taken to introduce eco-friendly electric transport in Dhaka. The Road Transport and Highways Department, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Department of Environment, and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will set up an experimental charging station in Dhaka city. The project will be implemented from now until June 2026.
The project will determine the type of batteries needed for charging stations in the city and how to establish battery recycling and disposal facilities. Initially, only owners of electric vehicles can use these stations. Later on, the government will take over the project.
Three government departments will conduct a survey to determine the number of charging stations needed in Dhaka city, the amount of buses required, and the route direction for the project ‘Enabling Electric Vehicle Adaptation in Framework of Sustainable Energy Based Transportation’.
This is basically a pilot project. A three-year plan will be taken up at a cost of Rs.22 crore. Out of the total expenditure, GEF (Global Environment Facility) will give 18 crore 36 lacs TK and UNDP will give 1 crore TK. The remaining amount will be paid from the government treasury.
BRTA Chairman Noor Mohammad Majumdar said that they are working on projects to introduce eco-friendly transportation in the city. This will significantly reduce environmental pollution in Dhaka. The task is timely and will be managed with foreign grants.
Project Objectives:
Constructing battery-recycling plants, training BRTC drivers and technicians locally and internationally. Stakeholders emphasize that the project includes installing charging stations to make using electric vehicles more convenient.
Main activities of the project:
2 crore 30 lakh TK will be spent on local consultancy sector, 3 crore 24 lac on foreign consultancy sector, 3 crore 76 lakh on consultancy sector of any company or firm. Apart from this, 74 lakh will be spent on various seminars and workshops. 4 crore 74 lakh will be spent on purchasing four 300 to 400 KV chargers for testing. 1 crore 75 lakhs will be spent on purchase of state-of-the-art recycling batteries and 1 crore 54 lakhs will be spent on setting up three solar hybrid charging setups.
Meanwhile, the project proposal has been sent to the Planning Commission. The commission has given some opinion on the proposed project.
Nikhil Kumar Das, joint head of the road transport wing of the Physical Infrastructure Department of the Planning Commission, said that Under this project, there will be eco-friendly or electric buses introduced for shorter distances. The project mainly focuses on the installation of charging stations and plants. Another project will be implemented later to purchase the electric buses. Once the charging stations are in place, private transport vehicles will also be able to use them.