PASIR GUDANG: In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, the Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) has replaced five of its official cars with electric vehicles (EVs).

       Pasir Gudang mayor Datuk Asman Shah Abd Rahman said the move was part of the council's long-term plan to turn the district into a modern and environment-friendly place.

       "At the moment, we have ordered five cars and we are also looking into getting other vehicles such as electric vans.

       "We will increase the number of EVs from time to time as part of our effort to reduce carbon footprint in Pasir Gudang while also ensuring that the district would never again experience another Sungai Kim Kim incident," he said.

       He was referring to the March 2019 incident in the district when toxic water pollution affected over 6,000 people.

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       Asman Shah was speaking to reporters after the launch of the Pasir Gudang public participation and publicity programme for its draft local plan here on Thursday (June 9).

       He noted that MBPG was the first local authority in Johor to take this approach.

       "The plan to use EVs has been mooted since during the Covid-19 pandemic but it had to be delayed as there were some restrictions in the delivery of the vehicles.

       "Currently, there are three EV charging stations in Pasir Gudang and we hope that more could be set up around the district soon.

       "This could also help to attract more investors from Singapore to the district in line with the island republic's move towards having all cars in the country running on clean energy," he said.

       Also present at the event was Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, state secretary Tan Sri Datuk Dr Azmi Rohani and state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor.

       Mohd Jafni said the state government welcomed the use of EVs and was looking into using more of these vehicles in the future.

       "We need to move towards that as our neighbour Singapore is already taking proactive measures to limit the use of vehicles running on diesel while encouraging the use of EVs.

       "In order to benefit from Singapore's economy, we need to be at par with them.

       "At the moment, we have several EV charging stations in the Iskandar Puteri, Johor Baru and Pasir Gudang areas but we need more," he said.