A few decades ago, Kathmandu was a pristine city. The foreigners who arrived used to laud the cleanliness of the valley. Boris Lissanveitch, the man who opened Nepal’s first hotel, Hotel Royal, once applauded and said, “If I lived in Kathmandu, my lifetime would increase by 15 years.” Sixty years later, had he lived until now he would rescind his remark and rue on the degraded environment. The rife in air pollution compounded by bowl-shaped Kathmandu from where the pollutants cannot pass out tarnishes the city. The shrouds of pollutants covering the sky of the valley can be clearly visible from the hilltop surrounding the valley.
How come not the pollutants cover the sky of the valley?
Alone in the Bagmati zone, 94,751 number of vehicles are registered. These staggering figures corroborate the causation of rising in air pollution, as most of the imports are internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that alone contribute to the air pollution.
Motorcycle, that the youths enamor, tops the chart, with almost hitting the two million registration in the first half of 2017. Why would it not be? Nepal’s public transportation is feeble and unreliable, amidst that motorcycles have become the easiest way of mobility.
It is the fact these Internal Combustion engines (ICE) vehicles require fuel to operate, and 100 percent fuel is imported, to refuel our vehicles. As the government data shows the amount of diesel imported joined 100 billion marks (TEPC, 2018). While our total exported amount stands at 78 billion, far less than we import to refuel our vehicles. It is time to rethink our mode of transportation.
Fund the transition
With the country’s number of vehicle surging, a large concentration of vehicles brought to Nepal still is internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. However, our bordering countries, India and China, have unveiled hard-lined policies to switch to Electric Vehicles (EVs) as the main way to cut the air pollution in the long run. Nepal also has taken some initiatives to promote EVs. In 2017, the then Health Minister proposed the proposal to phase out the fossil fuel-run vehicles by 2031 across the nation.
In addition, Environment-friendly Vehicle and Transport Policy (2014) which was implemented with an ambition to reduce the emission from the vehicle and increase the share of EVs to up to 20 percent by 2020, but the policy has not resulted in any significant change till date. However, the easy financing and low-interest rate on auto loan lure the customers to opt for the motorbikes and automobiles.
The total number of EVs in Nepal stands around 21,000. While the number of internal combustion engine vehicles exceed the EVs by leaps and bounds. But still, the number of EVs are increasing but steadily. Immediately, there are no signs that people will go for EVs. Nonetheless, the demand for EVs has also surged. Globally, there are only a few EVs. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2016, there was almost a billion EVs on the road. After one year, in 2017, the number tripled to 3 billion, thanks to environment-friendly policies and conscious costumers worldwide. Similarly, the number of Electric Vehicles need to rise to and reach 600 million by 2040, to achieve the Paris Agreement of limiting temperature increase below 2 degrees, according to IEA.
Diverting Nepali automobile customers from a comparatively low-cost car and bikes to a little bit expensive EVs—a sustainable mode of transportation is no easy task. Despite the government slashing the import tax on EVs to 10 percent in comparison to 288 percent on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, still, the cost of EVs is high that stymie the cost-conscious customers to buy EVs.
Nepal does need higher subsidies than currently allocated, for the next four-five years as the upfront cost of owning an EV. The government should be an exemplary by gradually supplanting all the automobiles it owns with the EVs. Likewise, the mandatory rule that the public transportation should comprise of at least 10 percent EVs or hybrids in the first year followed by gradual switching to EVs should be introduced.
The limited number of charging stations are concerns for the EV . There is only a handful of charging stations available in Kathmandu, however, there are no charging stations outside Kathmandu. Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA) and other concerned authority should take in due consideration and establish charging station outside valley too.
EVs are no longer optional but mandatory to achieve the sustainable cities. With policies and visionary leaders at the ground, Nepal can be an exemplar to the whole world by becoming an early adopter. Let’s start working on it.
Susan Thapa
