Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol said that from last year to the present the ministry had registered more than 700 electric vehicles (EV). The ministry will continue to promote EV use as a meansa to reduce environmental pollution.
Chanthol spoke at the meeting to review work outcomes for 2022 and to outline work direction for 2023 held under the theme “continue improving the quality of infrastructure construction and the transportation system’s efficiency, sustainability, environmental impacts and human resource development” on February 15.
He said that Cambodia currently has nine EV charging kiosks, of which four were donated by the UNDP to the public works ministry. One of the four kiosks is at the ministry headquarters in Phnom Penh; each of the other three is in Sihanoukville, Siem Reap town and Battambang town.
He added that the private sector also donated three EV charging kiosks to the ministry, while Caltex Cambodia has installed one EV charging kiosks in Prey Sar commune and another one at Aeon Mall Sen Sok.
“We will further encourage people to start using electric vehicles. We have registered more than 700 vehicles so far,” he said.
The minister added that using EV is financially beneficial to the drivers as the import taxes are reduced and the cost of charging was cheaper than buying fuel.
By working with the private sector, another 200 EV charging kiosks will be installed nationwide in the near future, he said.
“2023 is the year to boost the use of EV. Our development partner UNDP has also provided us with 30 electric motorcycles for testing. We have also worked with Nham24 and Food Panda delivery services to encourage them to use electric motorcycles to help reduce pollution,” he said.
Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said on February 15 that the environment ministry supported the call by Chanthol to encourage people to use EV as it is a more environmentally friendly means of transport.
Pheaktra said that pushing for the use of electricity and renewable energy was an important part of a long-term development policy to neutralize carbon emissions.
He noted that the transport sector is one of the areas that needs to increase the use of public transportation to 30 per cent in urban areas by 2050. And the plan is for the Kingdom to be using 70 per cent EV for larger vehicles and 40 per cent EV for motorcycles in urban areas by 2050.
“On behalf of the environment ministry, I urge people to participate in using EV because it saves money and does not harm the environment. And please do not worry about the technology or the charging kiosks because we will be adding various locations as it is part of what we are pushing for as a whole,” he said.
The environment ministry spokesman added that in addition to the public works and transportation sector, there were other areas of environmental concern where reforms would be focused: Agriculture, forestry and land use, energy, industrial processes, product use and waste management.
