At a crossroads
The United Kingdom’s economy has encountered a challenging phase, with consecutive monthly declines in GDP marking the first back-to-back contraction since the tumultuous days of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Taking a leap towards enabling the usage of more and more environment-friendly vehicles to curb pollution, the West Bengal government with concerted efforts of the United Kingdom is working on a roadmap to set up an intelligent mobility skilling centre with a twin objective of creating new and boosting investment in electric mobility.
The project of the centre was announced on Tuesday during a three-day visit of the UK’s International Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston to Kolkata and Dhaka, to unveil new initiatives to help UK business sell to both countries.
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The initiative is expected to be a milestone in the state government’s aim of achieving a target of developing 1 million electric vehicles in the next five years.
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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Technical Education, Training and Skill Development Department of the state government on skill development in sustainable and modern methods of construction.
The initiatives are being taken aiming to enhance opportunities in the EV sector by partnering Indian businesses with elite academic and industrial institutions in the UK.
Meanwhile, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has also partnered with Connected Places Catapult to create a business model for shared two wheeler electric vehicles. “West Bengal is leading the way with its ambitious policies on zero emission transport,” said Huddleston at the MoU signing event held at Dhana Dhanye auditorium on Tuesday.
“It is a pleasure to be here in Kolkata today to celebrate these initiatives which demonstrate the power of cooperation to solve mutual challenges. Working together, we will make the transition to zero emission vehicles faster, more affordable and more accessible to all,” added the minister who is on his first visit to the city.
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