Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has introduced a scheme for the distribution of 20,000 motorbikes, including 1,000 electric bikes, to students interest-free and on easy instalments. Given that one has to be 18 to get a driver’s licence, it is assumed that only university students would be eligible for these bikes. In my view, the best gift to a student would be a free or subsidized supply of textbooks and buses would be a better solution to the transport problem as they would bring down the per-person costs.
Most petrol bikes are either imported or made abroad and assembled locally, making them relatively expensive. This is before we even get into petrol costs. The scheme will thus likely have an adverse effect on the current account deficit, which is already very high. It will probably not generate income and jobs either while the benefits to students will be, as far as I can tell, marginal.
Abdul Majeed
Islamabad
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