Environment and Forest Minister Hasan Mahmud on Saturday said hybrid electric vehicles can be the future alternative to the existing vehicles.“Hybrid vehicles are less emitting vehicles. Why aren’t hybrid vehicles becoming popular?” he questioned.
Hasan Mahmud came up with the observations at the inauguration of the 7th Stakeholders-cum-Regional Coordination Meeting of Male Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution, organised by the Environment and Forest Ministry at a city hotel.
Taxation structure for the production and import of hybrid vehicles can be eased to popularise the use, the minister told the function.
Mahmud also noted that the government is working on a roadmap to reduce the sulphur level to 500 ppm (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 inauguration 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. UNB
