QC chosen for green trike project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have chosen Quezon City as a pilot testing site for a scale-up e-trike project that will allow the use of renewable energy and green technologies for the city’s tricycles, officials said yesterday.

Under the project, Quezon City will be given 22,000 electric tricycles or e-trikes over a five-year period. This is the second largest allocation given to any local government unit in the country, next only to Cabanatuan City, and the largest given to LGUs in Metro Manila, officials said.

DOE Undersecretary Loreta Ayson, in a letter to Mayor Herbert Bautista, said “while the figures are indicative and non-binding to either party, they show the level of commitment of the (LGUs) to move towards energy-efficient tricycle operations.”

For this year, Quezon City will receive 2,000 e-trikes and a yearly allocation of 5,000 units for the succeeding four years.

Quezon City’s trike allocation forms part of more than 100,000 e-trikes acquired by the DOE through a loan obtained by the Philippine government from the ADB. The e-trike can be acquired through an installment per “boundary” scheme.

City public order and safety chief Elmo San Diego said the e-trike project developed by the DOE and ADB is expected to complement the city government’s continuing effort to mitigate the ill effects of pollution on public health and safety. “With its implementation, we expect the gradual phase-out of conventional tricycles now plying city roads,” he said.

To date, Quezon City has about 25,000 legitimate tricycles in operation.