SLTB to get 100 buses more

Lakshmi DE SILVA

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) would add another 100 buses to its fleet on lease basis, Transport Minister Kumara Welgama said at a press conference held at his ministry yesterday.

Indian buses are the most suitable for the country and other buses are costly. We have to pay a down payment of Rs 400,000 per bus plus an interest for 40 months. The total cost would be around Rs 3.7 million, the Minister said.

He said it is unfortunate that the SLTB was running at a loss while the Government provides almost everything free; batteries, the tyres, and even the nuts and bolts.

"I hail from a family which has 100 years of experience in the transport sector and I want to increase the revenue of all the SLTB depots," he noted.

"I go to every depot and have noticed that some depots are doing well and had increased their revenue during the past few months. The Rikillagaskada depot was rather small but it had earned a quite a good revenue," he said.

Jaffna SLTB was an example for other depots and Polonnaruwa depot was also earning a good revenue, he stated.

"Garage is the heart of a depot and office comes last and I first visit the garage. There is something wrong somewhere. Some SLTB depots like Gampaha, Nittambuwa where there is a mass population could not gain higher revenue, while some smaller depots were making profits," Minister Welgama said.