To minimize vehicle congestion:

Ministry to test traffic control system

Suraj A. Bandara

The Transport Ministry will test a new traffic control system to minimize vehicle congestion in Colombo during the next three months.

Colombo has a severe traffic congestion every morning and afternoon on week days, Deputy Transport Minister Rohana Dissanayake said.

This situation arises due to over 6,000 school vans carrying students in an around Colombo schools and heavy containers with over 12 tyres travelling from the port on busy streets.

He said though 6,000 school vans are coming to Colombo every day, each van can bring only maximum of 12 students.

The Transport Ministry initiated a new program called Sisu Seriya to transport over 52 schoolchildren in one bus.

The Ministry will manage to reduce the amount of vehicles up to 2,000 through this program.

The Sisu Seriya program will bring a great relief to parents who spend a lot of money for their children's transportation. Parents who have several children cannot afford school van fees.

Therefore, only 25 percent will be charged from the students who are below 12 years under this program. This program is a loss to the Transport Ministry. But as a national service this would be a good investment, he added.

The Deputy Minister said many dilapidated roads are results of container travelling.

They damage roads and cause accidents. Measures will be taken to transport containers by trains.

Since the country has not separate trains for container transportation, container carriages will be added to the available trains according to the present timetable, he said.