Govt to buy electric vehicles for state leaders

The government will purchase electric vehicles for use by senior state leaders within this year, as part of its policy to cut fuel imports and reduce harmful gas emissions.
By replacing gasoline vehicles with electrically-powered cars, the government believes it can make a huge cut in expenditure on state vehicles and further implement its austerity policy.
However, it is not yet known how many electric vehicles will be purchased this year as the government is collecting information from state bodies concerning the number of leaders for whom new vehicles are required.
An official from the Ministry of Finance, who asked not to be named, said the ministry will first buy electric vehicles for senior officials experiencing a shortage.

As a first step, the ministry last week asked electric vehicle dealers, operators and those who plan to import electric vehicles to demonstrate their cars to the ministry.
Interested dealers can contact the State Asset Management Department from October 21-29, as specified in an invitation signed by the ministry’s office head Mr Somboun Inthapattha.
The ministry has requested vehicles that are 100 percent battery operated and use lithium ion batteries that comply with the international standards UNECE R100 and R136 and are factory-certified.
Dealers must guarantee the quality of their products, be able to provide spare parts, and offer after sales service.Following demonstrations by dealers, the ministry will open competitive bidding for the purchase of electric cars for allocation to leaders.
Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh told the National Assembly in August that cutting spending on vehicles was one of his administration’s top priorities in fulfilling the national austerity policy.
Earlier this month, the government issued a resolution on its policy to promote the use of electric vehicles, aiming to increase the number in use in Laos to 1 percent by 2025 and over 30 percent by 2030.
The resolution signed by Prime Minister Phankham underscored the government’s intention to cut imports of fuel-inefficient cars and promote the use of electricity as well as reduce pressure on the government to obtain the necessary foreign currency to import fuel.
In August, the price of petrol vehicles and fuel rose by 6.25 percent and 22.11 percent year-on-year respectively, according to the Lao Statistics Bureau.
In 2016, Laos imported almost 2,000 million litres of fuel, worth more than US$1 billion, with the cost shooting up to nearly US$2 billion last year.
According to a CNBC report, the US oil benchmark has topped US$80 per barrel for the first time since November 2014 as demand rebounds while supply remains tight.
This has forced Laos to restructure petrol prices twice this month in line with changing prices on the global market.

By Somsack Pongkhao
  (Latest Update October 26, 2021)