More buses on our roads soon

*Ministry to purchase 2,000 new buses

*500 more buses to be added to public transport system

Ridma Dissanayake

The Transport Ministry will purchase 2,000 new buses next year under a leasing system and with funds from the Treasury, Transport Minister Kumara Welgama said.

"Moves are also underway to add 25 super luxury buses to the Colombo urban area transport system in 2013. Arrangements will be made to book seats via hand phones," he said.

Addressing a press briefing at the Information Department yesterday, the minister said the number of passengers using public transport in Sri Lanka increased five fold with the end of terrorism.

The number of private vehicles is also increasing daily with development plans launched by the government and traffic congestion has become a serious problem in the urban transport system in Colombo, he said.

The Transport Ministry along with Japan International Cooperation Agency will prepare a master plan for the next 25 years following a feasibility study on the urban transport system to make the local transport system more efficient and comfortable, Welgama said.

The issuing of driving licence online will be introduced to district offices of the Transport Department in the coming years. The district offices in Galle, Kalutara, Kegalle, Jaffna, Nuwara-Eliya, Batticaloa, Puttalam, Vavuniya, Kurunegala and Gampaha, still under construction, are to be opened in the near future.

The construction of the railway line from Omanthai to Kankesanthurai has commenced and will be completed by 2014. The railway line from Matara to Beliatte will be completed in 2015, he said.

The construction of the railway track from Medawachchiya to Madu will be completed by the end of this year and the track from Medawachchiya to Thalaimannar and Madu to Thalaimannar will be opened next year, the minister said.

He said arrangements are in place to add 13 power sets, imported from China, to the national transport system and six office buses for females next year.

"We hope to add 500 more buses to the public transport system as well," Minister Welgama said.