PTI govt's billion-dollar memorandum of 'misunderstanding' exposed

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 2 : A billion-dollar Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, former Information and Broadcasting Minister of Pakistan in 2020 to set up a plant for producing electrical automobiles in Pakistan, has turned out to be a "memorandum of misunderstanding" as Hussain was neither authorised to sign it nor he followed formalities.
In October 2020, Fawad Chaudhry announced that an electric vehicle manufacturing company would invest four billion dollars in Pakistan to set up a plant for producing electrical automobiles in the country, The News International reported.
Fawad was the federal minister of science and technology at the time of the announcement. He made the above statement after signing an MoU with EGV Transport Limited, which attracted media hype and praise for the minister for this so-called landmark achievement.
The PTI leader then said that electric buses would soon ply on roads of major cities like Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore and around 20 per cent of public transport vehicles would be shifted to electric facilities in future under the National Electric Vehicle Policy, The News International reported.
But, it has been almost two years, there is nothing happened as expected. Fawad held the portfolio for six months after the signing of the MoU but without making any progress beyond holding the presser, as per The News International.
Meanwhile, the ministry of science and technology said that such an MoU was beyond the mandate of the ministry as its main job is research and development. As the government has changed in Pakistan, a report sought by the present administration stated that the proposal for such an MoU is initiated by the ministry.