SLTB to run sans Treasury funds - Deputy Minister, Rohana Dissanayake

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) will not depend on Treasury funds to purchase buses and pay salaries and wages for its employees," said the Deputy Minister of Transport Rohana Dissanayake in an interview with the Sunday Observer.

Excerpts from the Interview:

During the last few years we have achieved tremendous results in the transport sector and as a result the quality of services provided by the Sri Lanka Railway (CGR) and SLTB has improved.

Rohana Dissanayake

The importance of the transport sector in the economic development of the country is clearly defined in the policies of the government. We believe that transportation in an economy is similar to blood transmission in the human body.

Our responsibility is providing an efficient transport service to 20 million people. In addition it includes providing transport for goods and services.

The two main transport modes owned and operated by the State the CGR and the SLTB, were not able to carry out their prime objectives due to various political and managerial reasons as well as due to the attitude of workers. Therefore, changing the situation was a great challenge.

SLTB

The Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) set up in 1958 by the late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike made a huge contribution to the development of the country. Parallel to free education, the CTB provided access to rural students to schools.

The value of the service rendered by CTB/SLTB cannot be measured in monetary terms. After 1977 the SLTB faced a serious crisis but continued providing a competitive service with the private sector.

Since private bus operators are only interested in profits, the SLTB has to provide uneconomical services such as night service, service on rural roads and a subsidised service for schoolchildren.

Therefore financial profitability of this sector is not the only indicator that gives the value of its service to the national economy.

Today, the SLTB holds 23 percent of market share with 5,200 buses and provides a competitive service to the private sector with over 18,000 buses.

SLTB's intervention in the sector is key to maintain the quality of the service because it sets standards.

After our intervention in line with the transport policy of the government, we have achieved results.

The daily revenue of the SLTB has increased from Rs. 45 million to Rs. 50 million. Corruption, wastage and other unnecessary expenses have been reduced.

The fleet was increased by providing spare parts and renovating old buses. We spend Rs. 70 million on salaries and wages monthly and today the SLTB is capable of earning a greater share of its operational cost without being a burden on the Treasury.

The SLTB has also planned to purchase 2,000 new buses using its own money. D-type small buses will also be purchased for rural uneconomical roads. Today the SLTB operates over one million running Kms.

Theoretically, a bus can only run 500,000 Km and accordingly we have to remove two buses daily from the fleet. However, this is not happening and we use them by repairing and maintaining our bus fleet.

There are 106 SLTB depots in the country. We have improved the management of these depots and enhanced facilities for workers during the last few years.

Deterioration of the confidence of SLTB workers was a major issue and during the UNP regime, they were expecting to sell the SLTB to the private sector.

Now they have confidence in the government and all depots earn an increased revenue. The SLTB provided an excellent service during the New Year season last month and it proved the results we have achieved.

Since diesel and tyre prices have increased significantly a bus fare revision has to be made according to the agreement between the National Transport Commission and bus operators. It will be implemented from July 1 according to the agreement.

CGR

The CGR accounts for six percent of public transportation. When President Mahinda Rajapaksa took office, the railway service had deteriorated. For instance there were only 38 locomotives in the fleet and to provide a better service at least 60 locomotives were needed.

We have repaired abandoned engines and have increased the fleet. We sought assistance from institutions such as the Arthur C. Clarke Centre to repair computer systems of M-9 engines. New locomotives will be added and 20 power sets have been ordered some of which have already arrived. Efficiency in the train service has improved with these initiatives.

Transportation of goods by rail is a solution to reduce road traffic as well as reduce transport cost.

We encourage government agencies and private companies to use trains for transportation of goods.

Development of railway tracks is also continuing.

The Matara-Galle railway line has been upgraded with, 100 Kmph designated speed.

However, there are 122 railway crossings along this railway line and as a result, trains cannot run at the designated speed.

The southern railway line development project is being carried out by an Indian company and will be completed this year.

Reconstruction of the Northern railway line is also being done by an Indian company and is now reaching Omanthai.

There are two stages - 56 Km from Omanthai to Pallai and 96 Km from Pallai to KKS. Reconstruction of the Mannar-Madhu-Medawachchiya railway track has also started. After the completion of these projects, the rehabilitation of the North will speed up and the lives of the people and economic activities will rapidly improve. Another important initiative is upgrading the upcountry railway track. Today there are several issues in the upcountry train service due to some basic issues in the century old railway track.

We expect to modernise the track using new technology as well as by deploying new powerful locomotives on the upcountry line. Today we use two engines to run a train from Rambukkana to Kadugannawa. The CGR is also ready to cater to the booming tourism industry to increase its revenue.

The demand from the tourism sector is increasing and in the future CGR will add more observation carriages to the upcountry and coastal line trains.

Road safety

Road safety is another concern of the ministry and we have launched several programs to minimise road accidents. We have declared a road safety month from May 1-31 to raise awareness. A national program for road safety will be designed for 10 years and a workshop was held to get expertise from organisations such as the WHO and UNDP.