Facelift soon for Fort and Maradana railway stations

By Lalin Fernandopulle

The Ministry of Transport has called upon the General Manager of Railways to prepare the bidding documents to renovate the Fort and Maradana railway stations this year.

The Ministry plans to obtain the services of the private sector to renovate all major railway stations in the country and provide a better service by the end of the year.

Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Nihal Somaweera said improving the income of railway stations is the primary purpose of upgrading the standard of the stations. "Improving railway tracks, platforms, bridges, installing signal lights, carriages and engines and an effective ticketing system are some of the main areas that need immediate attention", he said.

The last batch of carriages from China are expected to arrive this week and 15 locomotives are expected in March. Of the 100 carriages 75 have already arrived.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has decided to call on the Labour Commissioner to intervene and take over the management of the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) provident fund and carry out investigations on the alleged misappropriation amounting to Rs. 3.5 billion. A few members of the management of the CTB provident fund are alleged to have misappropriated funds which had been taking place since 1997. The fund is operated under the supervision of the Board of Management.

The CTB provident fund was set up under the Provident Fund Act No.15 of 1958.

The Secretary said when the preliminary investigations are over the CID will be called to probe into the fraud.

[email protected]