LAHORE:
For more than a decade, Lahore has drowned under a thick smog blanket and air pollution. But successive governments seem more focused on polishing their green credentials than making a real difference.
Continuing with this trend, the newly formed environmental protection force aims to lead with the example in a city where most commercial and private vehicles still work with gasoline, without adequate emission monitoring.
Your solution? Patrol the streets and perform inspections in 25 bright hybrid cars, located at an amazing cost of 250 million rupees, financed under the green program of the World Bank.
To give the government the benefit of the doubt, some could call it a step in the right direction. But that argument falls apart quickly when most travelers in the city can barely allow an electric motorcycle, much less an ecological car.
However, the new force will have access to 250 electric motorcycles, together with modern inspection equipment that includes tablets and instruments for gas and water analysis, located by 300 million additional rupees, financed by the provincial administration.
According to the figures gathered by the Express PAkGazette, Lahore, the capital of Punjab, has 7.5 million registered vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, rickshaws and taxis. An overwhelming 99% gasoline, which makes them an important taxpayer to the quality of persistently unhealthy air of the city. As of April 2, the Lahore Air Quality Index (AQI) varies from 100 to 166, placing it in the ‘non -healthy’ category for much of the day. During the first two days of the month, PM2.5 levels vary between 60 and 90 µg/m³, more than four times the 24 -hour safe limit established by the World Health Organization.
So can the new environmental protection force, with its fleet of hybrid cars, make a difference? Environmental experts say no. Even those familiar with vehicle mechanics see little benefit by adding 25 hybrid cars to the Environmental Protection force when the vast majority of vehicles on Lahore roads still work with gasoline.
“If the government took the ecological transport seriously, it should have been for completely electric vehicles instead of hybrids, which still depend on fossil fuels,” said Sunil Sarfaraz Munj, who runs Pakwheels, the largest automotive website in the country. “It’s like preaching to others without practicing it, hybrids still have an engine and require fuel,” he added. “If the government took its slogan ‘Go Green Go’ seriously, it should have committed to fully electric transport.”
When throwing more doubts, Munj said that if the objective was to reduce emissions and give an example, the government could have saved money when opting for the ATTO 3 of the entrance level of Byd, a more affordable electric vehicle of the Chinese manufacturer.
Taking into account the advice of the automobile expert, Express PAkGazette conducted a market survey. The last participant of the Pakistan electric vehicle market, byd, has models with a price of between 9 million and 17 million rupees, since most is the scope. Independent financial experts calculate the average monthly salary in Pakistan in RS 70,700, which makes the property of EV a distant dream for the average consumer. This salary also places electric bicycles, with a price between RS 140,000 and RS 250,000, scope.
How deep is the green promise?
Environmental experts argue that the government is pressing its slogan ‘Go Green Go’ without focusing on concrete actions.
On the one hand, they say, the environmental protection force that patrol in hybrid vehicles will have little inspiring value if the average citizen cannot afford prohibitively faces. More critically, they point out that for Lahore to see any real improvement in air quality, the provincial administration must take multiple simultaneous steps, improving urban transport, offering better connectivity and providing incentives for the average traveler.
At this time, they point out, the system does not reach the needs of a city of 14.8 million people. Take the Lahore subway: a fleet of 60 buses that cover only 27 kilometers from Gajju Matah to Shahdara. Experts argue that this is not close enough to convince travelers to leave their personal transport. Similarly, the Orange Line Metro train, which covers 27.1 kilometers with 26 stations, needs a carefully planned expansion to cover more routes throughout the city, something that political leaders have not yet approached. Without an effective public transport system, they warned, any other measure will do little to reduce the amount of vehicles on roads, which makes any significant reduction in emissions unlikely.
Inspiring value
When asked about the expensive purchase of hybrid vehicles for the newly formed Environmental Protection Force, the Secretary of the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency, Raja Jahangir Anwar, defended the decision. Speaking to the Express PAkGazette, he said that 250 electric motorcycles and 25 hybrid vehicles had been acquired to inspect the industrial units, factories and brick ovens that cause pollution. “Since the province is moving towards zero emissions, it was essential to ensure that the vehicles used by the department were also friendly to the environment,” he added.
Environmental experts argue that without a significant change in public transport, industrial regulation and fuel quality, such measures will do little to control the worsening of the air pollution of the Lahore. Despite the progress of the Provincial Government towards the net emissions of zero, and the establishment of a more populated province of Pakistan of the ‘Smog War Room’ remains an important taxpayer to the greenhouse gas emissions of the country.
While specific figures for PUNJAB are not available, their industrial production, vehicle emissions and agricultural practices suggest that it represents a significant part of the national total. Nowhere is this more evident than in the provincial capital, which, every winter during the last 15 years, has stopped under a thick toxic smog blanket, sometimes competing with New Delhi for the dubious title of the most polluted city in the world.
Pollution mixture
According to a report by the Urban Unit of the Punjab Planning and Development Department, transport represents 83% of LaHore’s air pollution. Within this sector, motorcycles, scooters and automatic rickshaws, many of them wearing two -stroke engines are among the worst criminals. To make things worse, low quality fuel is widely available, exacerbating vehicular emissions and further deteriorating air quality.
Industrial activity is another important taxpayer
Recent estimates suggest that factory emissions represent about 25% of the total air pollution. Combined with the transport sector, these emissions feed the dangerous smog that the city frequently covers.
Climate Change Action Plan
A review of the Punjab Climate Change Action Plan, presented last year, presents ambitious objectives: Sales of electric vehicles (EV) should reach 15% by 2030 and 20% by 2035. But experts warn that even if these objectives are met, it is likely that the general impact on vehicular emissions will be insignificant.
According to Plan 2024, the provincial government suggests that 60% of its energy come from renewable sources and that the EVs represent 30% of vehicles on the road in the late decade. Dawar Hameed Butt, an environmental specialist, is still deeply skeptical.
“While the renewable energy objective could reach 40-45% by 2030, the objective of the electric vehicle is very unrealistic and can barely scrape 1%,” he said. The fundamental issue, Butt argued, is the lack of infrastructure. Load networks remain inadequate, and with the adoption of EVs currently minimal, it sees few possibilities of rapid expansion in the coming years.
Beyond the electric cars, Punjab transport problems are exacerbated by the lack of efficient options. Sani E Zahra, an urban planner based in Lahore, draws comparisons with cities such as Bogotá and Beijing, which have successfully built integrated sustainable public transport systems.
He urged political leaders to see public transport as a long -term investment instead of a tool for political profits. “Sustainable and well planned transport solutions are crucial, not only for urban mobility but to improve the quality of life,” said Zahra.
