Pasban Democratic Party PDP Chairman Altaf Shakoor has said that the local automobile industry still awaits a boost so that to end Pakistan’s dependency on imported or semi-imported vehicles.
He said every year we spend billions of dollars to import vehicles from Japan and other countries. He said the local automobile units are in fact assemblers in nature and they mostly import various components of vehicles from aboard and then assemble them locally. He said this trend should be shunned and Pakistan should make local cars and other vehicles without depending on imported components. He said local engineering industry should be modernized to make the dream of made in Pakistan cars fully materialized.
He welcomed the initiative of DICE Foundation – a US-based non-profit organization run by expatriate Pakistanis – on unveiling Pakistan’s first ever indigenous electric car, a fully functional prototype of EV Nur-E-75, designed by automotive expatriate from USA and EU in collaboration with local academia and industry, that is all set for the testing and regulatory approval, now.
Altaf Shakoor hoped that this electric vehicle project will open up many doors for the currently dollar-strapped Pakistan on its journey towards sustained economic prosperity.
He congratulated Eng Dr Khurshid Qureshi Chairperson Distinguished Innovation Collaboration & Entrepreneurship (DICE) Foundation on this project and hoped that the project will help combating climate change, and sustained prosperity for Pakistan.
Altaf Shakoor said we need an ambitious plan for import substitution. He said if cars and other vehicles are fully made in Pakistan it would be a huge achievement. He said similarly we need to manufacture solar panels and accessories locally to help meeting ongoing energy crisis successfully.
He asked the government, industry leaders and leading engineering experts to join hands to make a viable plan for manufacturing cars and other vehicles locally so that on one hand the consumers may be given cost benefit and on the other precious foreign exchange could be saved, besides creating new job opportunities for our youth.
