Electric bus service in Putrajaya to begin September next year - Tengku Adnan

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said for a start, 10 electric buses had been brought in from Japan for the trial run on all Nadi Putra bus routes.

"Besides reducing air and noise pollution, the use of these electric buses are also in line with the aspiration to make Malaysia a "Green City".

"This electric bus service will be on a three-month trial run, and if it has a good competitiveness, we will change all buses running on gas with electric buses," he told reporters after flagging off the "Community Fun Ride" participants in Precinct 9 here today.

A total of 500 participants took part in the 13 km ride.

Tengku Adnan said each electric bus could transport 60 passengers at a time and could travel a distance of 30 km on the battery charged for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the minister said the government noted the complaints made by Putrajaya residents over the traffic congestion caused by the organising of the FIA Formula E Championship (ePrix) here yesterday.

However, he said the organising of the race was also good in terms of helping to promote Putrajaya and Malaysia in the eyes of the world.

"Besides, we hope the ePrix, which was broadcast live to many countries, could also show the world our aspiration to make each city in the country an environmentally-friendly Green City," he said.

He said the selection of Putrajaya as the location for the ePrix was also aimed at bringing the race to the public as they could watch it for free.