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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Resurrection of the SLTB by Jayantha Sri Nissanka and Ranga Jayasuriya
Nobody will disagree that patriotic politicians established the CTB and improved it for the benefit of the downtrodden. But, politicians are also responsible for the collapse of the CTB. The success of the SLTB will be dependent on whether it is allowed to function independently without political and trade union influences. Otherwise, the SLTB will face a natural death, forever, without anyone to resurrect it.
As a result, the Ratnam Survey in 1948, the Sansony Survey in 1954 and the Jayaratna Perera Survey in 1956 studied the bus service in Sri Lanka. All these surveys recommended that the bus service should be nationalised. During the period 1948 to 1953, the demand for bus services increased from 144 million passenger kilometres a year to 288 million. But bus owners did not increase their fleet and the service was irregular due to decrepit buses. Buses were often unclean. As a result, conditions were difficult for the commuters. Surveys revealed that bus owners did not re-invest their money to improve the fleet, but invested in other business ventures. They also did not pay a good salary to employees who were engaged in unlimited working hours. This situation forced the 1956 Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Government under the leadership of the late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to nationalise the bus companies. The late Minister Maithreepala Senanayake presented the Motor Transport Bill on October 1, 1957 and the CTB came into operation on January 1, 1958. Under the chairmanship of Anil Munasinghe, the CTB reached great heights during 1971- 1977. But unfortunately it began to collapse thereafter. During the tenure of the UNP Transport Minister Wijepala Mendis, buses were sold for Rs. 2.50. Some buses were even sold to monks. Former Transport Minister Felix Perera lamented at Parliamentary debates to reestablish the SLTB and said that his program to revive the public transport sector was sabotaged by bureaucrats and trade unions. He told the House that the SLTB Bill had been prepared long ago but the Ministry Secretary Dr. D.S.Jayaweera kept it in his drawer for months. When the Treasury passed Rs.525 million and granted another Rs. 9 million from the Indian Line of Credit, the Ministry Secretary had written to the Treasury stating that these funds were not required, the Minister told the House. It was also exposed during the debate that Trade Unionist Nimal Abeysiri received commissions for every spare part. He used to issue circulars to depot managers and also informed Minister Felix Perera and Secretary Dr. Jayaweera not to take any decisions without consulting him. A carpenter was promoted as a Civil Engineer during the UNF Government in 2002, and recently some drivers were promoted as Depot Superintendents. These have demoralised workers in the SLTB. When the Transport Ministry is in the hands of irresponsible politicians, it becomes a popular place for them to provide jobs for their supporters. The number of employees has now increased to 40,000 but the bus fleet is only 4000, of which only 2000 buses are roadworthy. According to the General Secretary of the Lanka Transport Employees Union (LTEU) K. A. E. Brito, bus service should be provided by the Government as an essential service, like education, health, etc. A better public transport facilitates economic growth. It will not only assist the 6.5 million working class, but also 4.5 million students. However, if the SLTB is to be run by politicians, its development and improvement cannot be guaranteed. It is hard to find committed officials to run the CTB. Every Government has blamed the weak management of Government ventures for under performance, but the real causes are political and bureaucratic, coupled with the unreasonable demands of trade unions. The Government should form an independent Commercial Council, one similar to the Constitutional Council to manage all state ventures, thereby minimising political interference. Thanks to the Police Commission, Police officers can now work with a newfound sense of independence. The Commercial Council should have powers to appoint the directors, who are professionals in their fields, to public ventures. Otherwise, all Government owned institutions like the SLTB, Railway, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ceylon Electricity Board, State banks, etc will continue to suffer losses at the hands of politicians and their henchmen and finally it will be a good business for racketeers who are eyeing to purchase the public properties for peanuts. *** Desired changes in public transport sector Dr. Amal Kumarage, the Chairman of the National Transport Commission says that the SLTB would be instrumental in bringing about the "desired changes" in the public transport sector. The revitalised SLTB will bring new standards and introduce new qualititative changes to the system, which the private sector bus operators could not, or are not willing to do, given the very nature of the private sector transport system. The SLTB does not plan to go big- indeed, there are nearly 20,000 privately owned buses operating in the country- but, the qualitative changes envisaged by the SLTB would, hopefully, redefine the public transport sector . The SLTB will operate on new routes and commence new services, which the private sector operators are not inclined to operate due to financial reasons. Dr. Kumarage points out to two main reasons for the collapse of the CTB. One reason, as we pointed out in the main article is the politicisation of the institution, which certain Ministers saw only as a place for employment for their henchmen. The other reason is that the CTB became financially unsustainable, having operated on routes commercially not profitable. The new SLTB Act envisages safeguards to avoid the repetition of the previous mistakes. The new SLTB ACT requires the criterion for new recruitment to be outlined, gazetted and approved by Parliament. The future recruitment would be decided based on the output to the institution and hopefully not based on the whims and fancies of politicos. It is expected that once services which operate on not commercially viable routes are paid for the actual delivery of service, the rest of the services would be able to operate competitively. The NTC has provided a good regulatory and legal framework for the SLTB. It is up to the political leadership to provide a capable management to the institution, says Dr. Kumarage. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) was re-established last Wednesday in
Veyangoda under a new name "Sri Lanka Transport Board" (SLTB). Many wonder
whether it is another political decision or a genuine attempt to resurrect
the already offering CTB. 
The first motor vehicle was imported to Sri Lanka in 1902 and the first
bus was operated in 1907. Thereafter, the number of vehicles were increased
to 60,000 in 1953. At that time the population was 8.1 million. During this
period there were about 75 bus companies operating 3,000 buses. About 15,000
people were employed in these companies. Most of these buses were decrepit.
Bus companies ran their buses according to their own timetable on any road
they wished to maximise profits. 
