KATHMANDU: Newly appointed Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Kul Man Ghising, has announced his commitment to steering Nepal into the era of electric vehicles (EVs).
Assuming office at the ministry after his swearing in on Monday, Ghising formed a five-member task force to study ways of promoting EVs and addressing related challenges.
The task force is led by the chief of the ministry’s Infrastructure and Transport Division. The Director General of the Department of Transport Management, the ministry’s under-secretary (legal), under-secretary (internal management division) and a senior divisional mechanical engineer are members of the task force.
The task force has been instructed to submit its report within seven days. It has been tasked with studying the current state of EV adoption, existing policies and legal frameworks, and making recommendations for reforms. Likewise, the task force has been told to recommend policy, institutional and financial measures to promote EVs, as well as standards for quality and compliance.
Ghising said industries, factories, railways, metro systems and vehicles must all transition to electric power in the future.
Addressing a meeting of senior officials of the ministry, Minister Ghising, who also looks after the energy, water resources and irrigation portfolio, underlined the need to convert fuel-based vehicles into EVs to increase domestic electricity consumption and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products. “We have enough electricity. The challenges we are facing now are technical and managerial, and they must be addressed,” Ghising said. “By reducing imports of petrol, diesel and LPG, we can save foreign currency, increase electricity consumption and make a big impact on climate change. The use of electricity in vehicles and kitchens will solve many problems—but for that, we must build the infrastructure”
Ghising, who is also a former executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), said Nepal could emerge as a global leader in EV adoption. He added that industries, factories, railways, metro systems and vehicles must all transition to electric power in the future.
