The forthcoming year (2024) will be declared as the Year of E-Mobility in Sri Lanka with the active participation of all relevant stakeholders in the Government and private sectors, Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said.
Minister Dr. Gunawardena was addressing a Consultation Meeting in Colombo on a Draft National Electric Mobility Policy for Sri Lanka, held in collaboration with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The Minister said: “I take immense pride in speaking on this occasion as this day marks a successful deliverable of the e-mobility policy framework, which I as Minister of Transport & Highways submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers in last June 2023.
Therefore, it is indeed a great pleasure and privilege for me to address this gathering and I highly appreciate your valuable contribution and support and also gathering here today for this stakeholder consultation. The Government, in the past has been exploring opportunities for shifting from fossil fuel based transport towards energy based transport systems. Various initiatives in the form of policies and strategies have been formulated along with studies and researches to determine the feasibility to initiate electric mobility in Sri Lanka.
Initiatives taken by the Government of Sri Lanka till date include electric vehicle registration, defining standards and processes for electric vehicle manufacturing and assembling, development of charging infrastructure, subsidy plan for Electric Vehicles, but a comprehensive long term vision for Electric Vehicle Policy was lacking and sorely required.
This journey began, when I had the opportunity to connect with Madan Regmi, who is here today, from UN ESCAP, during an international mission to Manila who accepted my invitation to support Sri Lanka in drafting a policy framework for accelerating the Transition to Electric Mobility for Public Transport in Sri Lanka.
As you may understand, a comprehensive document with legal backing will help to bring all aspects related to Electric Mobility together. The policy at the national level will show the way forward to all the initiatives across the country and it will help to integrate the standalone efforts to a collaborative initiative.
Thus the year 2024 will be declared as E-mobility entry year in Sri Lanka. My Ministry is looking forward to taking this policy to the implementation phase with the support of all related Government and private sector stakeholders, and it is very important that we all collaborate and partner to create a difference in this regard.
In March 2024, we are planning to have a major Electric Vehicle (EV) exhibition and a conference to discuss and have a dialogue among us to agree on the collaboration between ourselves, exchange global ideas and showcase all initiatives within our country and also for local and foreign investors to partner and scale up national enterprises in this domain.
This will be a global initiative aimed at promoting sustainable and efficient public transportation systems. This will emphasise on the importance of decarbonisation in transport, reducing individual vehicle usage, minimising traffic congestion, and curbing the environmental impact of transport. I look forward to the support of UNESCAP and everyone here today to work with our Ministry in navigating this process in March 2024 and beyond.
As our Cabinet of Ministers has approved the preparation of a policy framework and then a strategic plan with a roadmap to create the direction needed to promote the use of electric vehicles (both private cars and passenger transport), and this policy framework with your endorsement today will be again submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for their approval and if required I will also take steps to table this policy in Parliament to have the support and endorsement of all Members of Parliament (MPs) as well.
I would remiss in my duties today, if I do not extend my profound appreciation to my Ministry team who drove this together with my Ministry Secretary and the contribution of all related Ministries, other Government agencies and most importantly the local EV Industry stakeholders and the Cabinet appointed committee to formulate this policy and not to forget the local consultants who supported to navigate the policy drafting, with UNESCAP’s valuable contribution rendered to make this possible today. With your support, the E-Mobility drive will no doubt be a success in Sri Lanka.”
Madan Bandhu Regmi, Transport Division, ESCAP spoke on Accelerating the Transition to Electric Mobility for Public Transport in Asia and the Pacific. “ I am happy to see the great initiative taken by the Ministry of Transport under the leadership of the Minister, who committedly was engaged in navigating the process of drafting this policy with the support of UNESCAP”.
He shared global and regional experiences on electric mobility, implementation of policies, financing and operation models that can be useful to accelerate the transition to electric mobility in Sri Lanka.
Consultant, Sustainable Cities and Transport, World Resource Institute, India, Kaustubh S. Gosavi shared Global and Regional Experience on Implementation of Electric Mobility Policy, Financing and Operation Models and appreciated the efforts of all Sri Lankan stakeholders in moving forward towards the transition to electric vehicles for private and passenger transport.
Department of Transportation, Philippines, Joyce Rivera shared views on the Implementation of Electric Mobility Policy, Public Utility Vehicle Modernisation Programme and Community Engagement and shared experience from the Philippines.
Dr. Harsha Subasinghe, Founder, President and CEO, CodeGen, Sri Lanka, who spearheaded the manufacture of the first all-electric “Vega” sports car in Sri Lanka;
Tariq Miflal, CEO, Lumala Bicycles, Sri Lanka, which builds and exports electric bicycles; Dimantha Jayawardene, President, Sri Lanka Automobile Component Manufacturers Association;
Lakshitha Weerasinghe, Deputy General Manager (Research and Development), Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) shared their experience and expertise on the existing EV related industry in Sri Lanka and presented their views, expectations and suggestions for the transitioning to Electric Mobility in Sri Lanka and offered suggestions for the draft EV policy which is to be unveiled in due course. They predicted a bright future for the EV industry in Sri Lanka depending on the success of current initiatives.
A section of those participated in the proceedings.
