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Friday, 19 November 2010

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Aurora: Daily News supplement on the occasion of the inauguration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Second Term of Office | www.dailynews.lk

Tremendous progress in Transport Sector


State sector transport is vital to reap the benefits of development

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will take oaths for his second term in office which coincides with the week of his 65th birthday.

During this short period of 2 years, he succeeded in bringing about a new awakening in the social, economic, religious and political sectors. This resulted in President Rajapaksa winning the Presidency for a second time obtaining the highest mandate from the people who placed their maximum confidence ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ his election manifesto aims at building a ‘New Sri Lanka’ – which vows the consolidation of democracy and a commitment for massive post-war development after elimination of terrorism.

Sri Lanka is on the threshold of a new beginning in the aftermath of the war. The ruthless terrorism that hindered the country’s development for almost three decades has been eradicated from its soil.

Transport is a vital area in the Mahinda Chintana Policy Framework. There can be no development of any country without an efficient transportation system. For mobility in villages or towns it is essential that a proper transport system exists.

Therefore, President Mahinda Rajapaksa after he took over the country, provided highest contribution investing generously towards a golden era of the Sri Lankan transport at the same time providing priority for the elimination of the terrorism from the Map of Sri Lanka.

The transport sector of Sri Lanka has been greatly developed during his regime under the Mahinda Chinthana National Development Drive.

It is the main intention of the Government that the State sector transport should exist for the people of the country to reap the benefits of development.

During the last six years, a firm foundation was laid to uplift the transport system which has been promised the ‘Mahinda Chintanaya’ program.

The bus and rail operations have been improved under this program. The bus fleet of the state sector is increased with the addition of new buses and new rural and school bus services have been resumed. Steps have been taken to operate bus services on a coordinated time table in order to avoid the unhealthy competition prevailing on the highways between the public and the private transport sector.

Several development projects in the transport sector have been mooted in the country under several state programs of Gama Neguma (Village development drive), Maga Neguma (Rural road development drive), Uthuru Wasanthaya (180 days Northern development drive) and Negenahira Navodhaya (Eastern resurgence) to promote and foster the living standards of the community who live below the poverty line and the community which suffered untold hardships due to LTTE terrorism.

The Government under the leadership of President Rajapaksa is winning these development challenges since the Government’s primary objective is to serve the public without any bias.

All barricades for the development process have been removed successfully now and priority has been given to all regions including the North and the East in the development process.

The Government’s vision for the transport sector is to make Sri Lanka the foremost transport hub in the South Asian Region.

A set of proposals under the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya Idiri Dekma’ was drawn up to revive the public transport sector giving its due place in the Sri Lankan economy and fulfilling the expectations of the ordinary masses. Under this, substantial efforts will be made to tackle the transport sector shortcomings and reform its institutions without placing any burdens on the Treasury.

Transport Ministry recently decided to import new buses and also repair buses that are idling at depot yards and thus increasing the present fleet of 4,500 to 6,000. In addition, the Ministry has also planned to strengthen the Northern and Eastern region transport sector by improving the passenger as well as goods services. The total number of train engines have also been increased from 48 upto 60 after many years.

This has resulted in launching special and additional train services at many destinations by the Department. In order to develop the rail services. Thirty five new power sets will be deployed to the fleet newly before the end of this year and hopes to provide additional trains during the peak hours for the convenience of office workers. The depots have been given opportunities to purchase required buses under the leasing facility without placing a burden to the Treasury.

Meanwhile, it has identified loss incurring depots and will be made them into profit earning organizations under the model depot concept. Accordingly, sixty depots had already been increased their daily income following this project within three months.

It has been planned to complete the construction of the Matara- Kataragama new rail road in 3 phases.

The 1st phase is from Matara to Beliatta, a total length of 27 km, the 2nd phase is from Beliatta to Weerawila,a total length of 62 km, and 3rd phase is from Weerawila to Kataragama, a total length of 26 km. Construction activities on the 1st phase have already been commenced. Under the first phase the construction of a bridge over the Nilwala River was completed. The total cost of the first phase is US$ 200 million.

The double tracking of rail lines from Ja-ela to Seeduwa on the Puttalam line and Kalutara North to Payagala North on the coast line is being completed at a cost of Rs 32 million. Meanwhile, conversion of the single track from Kandy to Peradeniya into a dual track has commenced.

Five new train services such as Colombo Fort-Veyangoda, Fort-Polgahawela, Mahawa-Madawachchiya, Fort-Batticaloa and Polgahawela-Moratuwa have been commenced. The coastal railway line is currently being upgraded under Indian assistance.

After 30 years Yal Devi traveled to a newly constructed Thandikulam station.

Earlier it traveled from Colombo Fort to Vavuniya only. This line will be extended from Thandikulam to Kankesanthurai at a cost of Rs 535 m. The train service between Colombo and Omanthai too will be resumed shortly. From there on, the work on the track between Omanthai and Jaffna will commence which is undertaken by an Indian company.

The train services too will be resumed in coming years by fulfilling the expectations of their people. The construction activities of the Medawachchiya-Talaimannar rail line has already been commenced at a cost of Rs 8,400 m and it will be completed by the end of next year. Reconstruction of the coastal line from Kalutara to Matara is in progress at a cost of Rs 168 m. Construction of four railway stations at Aselapura, Wandaradhimulla, Riditenna and Ganthalawa has already been completed at a cost of Rs 2.85 million.

100 compartments imported from China were added to long distance trains such as Muthukumari, Sagarika, Bangadeniya, Ruhunu Kumari and Yal Devi. Nine more passenger carriages which were rehabilitated at Ratmalana workshop during this four year period have also been added to the service. 15 Diesel Multiple Units were added to strengthen the suburban train service, at a cost of Rs 3838 million, in 2008.

The work to improve the Polgahawela-Anuradhapura rail track and to increase the speed to 100 km per hour by removing speed restrictions commenced. After rehabilitation of the line, the travel time from Colombo to Anuradhapura is expected to be reduced to 3 hours.

Under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ policy, the Government implemented five special services, named Gamiseriya, Nisissariya, Sisusariya, Office Service and Integrated Railway Service. For the establishment of an efficient state bus service, 2200 buses were added during the period of 2005-2009 to the pubic transport by the Sri Lanka Transport Board at a cost of Rs 6,000 million. Rural bus service has been expanded under the ‘Gami Seriya’ program implemented by the National Transport Commission for the benefit of rural folk. Plans are afoot to add new 100 buses for the Gemi Seriya project this year. Rural passengers’ needs would be fulfilled with the arrival of new buses from India to the SLTB. Meanwhile,more buses will be added for a night bus service Nisi Seriya and school bus service service Sisu Seriya since huge public demand has been created for them.

The Colombo-Jaffna CTB bus services resumed after a period of nearly 30 years and are successfully operated with more private buses plying between these two main cities everyday. It has been planned to commence new bus services in rural areas in this year to facilitate the transport requirements of the people.

Information Technology was introduced to the SLTB through the establishment of a new division to increase the efficiency of the state run bus service at a cost of Rs 5 million and improved infrastructure facilities of the 33 Model Depots of SLTB covering all the districts.

Technical Standards were introduced for the inter-provincial private bus services through the National Transport Commission to increase the quality of the private bus service.

The Government is planning to construct two mechanical workshops to repair buses.

The Central Bus Stand has been renovated while the private bus stand located in Bastion Mawatha is being renovated.

A special luxury bus service under the ‘Park and Ride Service’ has been commenced targeting the passengers using private cars. All these measures are taken in an attempt to reduce the number of private vehicles entering Colombo city.

The business community can get maximum benefit of this service while minimizing traffic congestion by a considerable level.

Fifty buses which were subjected to minor repairs have been sent to Jaffna peninsula. Meanwhile another set of 10 buses which were subjected to major repair have also been sent to Jaffna peninsula.

Another set of 15 buses with major faults are being repaired and will be sent to the North by next Month. Accordingly 86 buses to Jaffna, 25 to Vavuniya and 14 to Mannar will be sent.

The development of every important sector has been mooted giving priority to infrastructure development. In addition to the existing railway lines the Government plans to lay railway lines from Kurunegala to Dambulla, from Avissawella to Hambantota through Ratnapura and from Panadura to Horana shortly.

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