September 10:  Sundar Yatayat Pvt Ltd is preparing to operate an additional 20 buses. The private company is is currently operating three buses on the Ring Road and one along the Bhaktapur-Ratna Park route. Now, Sundar Yatayat is planning to expand the service by operating buses on all routes in the valley.

Speaking at a program organized in Kathmandu on Wednesday on the occasion of the thirda anniversary of Sundar Yatayat, Chairman of the company, Bhesh Bahadur Thapa informed that 20 new buses would arrive within the next 25 days. The company bought the buses from China's BAK Company at a cost of Rs 110 million. Thapa informed that the goal is to increase the number of electric buses operated by Sundar Yatayat to 100 in the next six months.

The company started providing clean transportation service in the Kathmandu Valley with two buses in August 2019. Since then, two more buses have been added. Although the company had said that 25 buses would be added in the previous year, it still has not been able to bring new buses so far. Stating that it was a little later than the schedule due to the impact of Covid-19, Chairman of the company Bhesh Bahadur Thapa said that buses are being added so that the electric buses would run on all the routes in the valley.

The buses operated by the company have a capacity of 40 seats. They can cover a distance of 265 km on a single charge. According to the company, a digital payment facility has also been arranged in the bus. In addition, these buses are disable friendly as well.

Sundar Yatayat has also set out a long-term ambitious plan to assemble electric vehicles and export them to Bangladesh. The company has leased 8 bighas and 10 kathas of land from Sainamaina Municipality in Butwal, in order to set up the assembly plant. The initial investment for the plant is going to be Rs 3.60 billion approximately. Sundar Yatayat has also invited tenders to select a company for the construction of the plant.

The company's investment in the plant is very low. Even though it will remain as a sister organization, Sichuan Guang Automobile of China will have 47 percent stakes and SEC Company of the UAE will have 46 percent of stakes in the industry. Thapa informed that Sundar Yatayat will invest only 7 percent for the assembly plant.