Bangladesh along with car manufacturing big companies around the world have started investing heavily in the production of modern technology electric cars to keep the country in a pollution-free environment.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar, built around Mirsrai-Sitakund of Chittagong and Sonagazi area of Feni, is being set up on a hundred acres of land, including the construction of electric vehicles, batteries and charging units, and one world-class factory.
Bangladesh Special Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) officials said that several car manufacturing companies in the world have already started construction of factories in the Bangabandhu Sheikh MujibShilpa Nagar. Bangladesh Auto Industries Limited is one of them. The work of the factory, which started in 2018, is nearing completion.
The investment involves about three and a half thousand crore taka. Chinese company Dongfeng Motor Group Limited is the partner of Bangladesh Auto Industries. It is one of the leading car manufacturers in China.
A number of Japanese and European auto industries have factories in joint ventures with China's leading car manufacturers, including Japan's Honda, Nissan and France's Citroen.
A Mannan Khan, the chairman of Bangladesh Auto Industries Limited, the leader of the company, said that the total investment in the factory of BangabandhuShilpa Nagar will be around two and a half thousand crore taka. These funds will be invested in two phases.
The electric cars made from the factory established on 100 acres of land can come to the market within the next 5-6 months. Not only that, they also hope to hand over each car with modern technology between 7 and 14 lakh taka to the customer. The cars will be made in the design of Japanese and Korean cars.
Electric cars have already gained great popularity in the countries of the developed world as they are environment-friendly and energy efficient.
However, while there are many reasons that these cars are not seen on the roads of Bangladesh, one of the reasons is the lack of necessary charging stations.
Incidentally, in order to solve this problem, the authorities have also started working on charging policies for imported cars in addition to formulating policies for electric vehicles in Bangladesh.
Officials say that the import of electric cars will start only after the policy is finalized. On September 15, officials of the Ministry of Roads and Bridges also sat in a meeting to finalize the policy related to electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, the first experimental charging station has been set up at Tejgaon in the capital to bring the entire Bangladesh under the commercial EV charging facility. Incidentally, in an inter-ministerial meeting held recently in the capital, it was informed that while a petrol-powered vehicle costs Tk 5,375 for every 1,000 km, the electric vehicle will cost Tk 1,250 for the same distance. Besides, electric cars are more mechanically efficient than petrol cars and are environment friendly.
