Battery-powered, rechargeable three-wheelers are getting popular in cities mainly because of the rise in prices of fuel including natural gas, a source with Bangladesh Diesel Plant (BDP) at Joydevpur told the FE.
The BDP, an army-owned company, launched the three-wheeler looking like a rickshaw around two months back in the capital, although it was launched around nine months back in Chittagong and other parts of the country.
The three-wheeler, assembled locally with imported parts, has been named BORAC (Battery Operated, Rechargeable Auto Carriage).
The BDP previously was a government losing concern. It was taken over by the army in 2007.
BDP Project Director Colonel Mohammed Ali told the FE that it had supplied around 300 such three-wheelers in Dhaka city over the last two months and its demand was growing tremendously.
'The three-wheelers are in high demand in Dhaka and also in other parts of the country,' he added.
BDP, which earlier used to produce different categories of cylinders, has so far supplied around 1000 BORACs in different parts of the country, sources said.
He claimed that agents in Chittagong already placed orders for purchasing 10,000 BORACs.
He also said the BDP is working relentlessly to supply 100,000 such three-wheelers in Dhaka city by the fiscal year 2008-09.
'We have supplied 300 of the vehicles in Chittagong, 300 in Comilla, 100 in Narayanganj and 10 in big district towns,' the project director added.
There are three categories of BORACs. A two-seater BORAC is priced Tk 75,000, three-seater Tk 90,000 and four-seater Tk 110,000.
BDP official sources said each of the vehicles of all three categories has the speed of around 45 kilometres per hour.
They also said the BDP supplies two batteries during purchase of a three-wheeler and each battery requires four to six hours to be recharged for use.
Md Anowar Hossain, who owns two such battery-run three-wheelers, told the FE that the vehicle was running well and he was getting Tk 300 per vehicle a day.
The existing nagging power crisis is creating disturbances in running the three-wheelers, he, however, said adding, 'We face problems in charging the batteries, as it needs at least five hours to be recharged fully.'
However, the BDP director said Dhaka City Corporation is yet to issue any licence for the fully environment-friendly three-wheelers, although Chittagong City Corporation has been issuing licences.
'Our three-wheelers, supplied in Dhaka, are plying on an ad-hoc basis in Dhaka. We expect that the Dhaka City Corporation will issue licences shortly,' the project director added.
BDP sources said it might be a good substitute for rickshaws in the cities.
According to an estimate, there are one million rickshaws plying across the country, half of them in Dhaka. It is often blamed that rickshaws create traffic congestions and the grueling physical labour required for pulling a rickshaw is criticised by the human rights groups.
