The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Leader of the House of Parliament

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, two important things converge today: the Debate on our Ministry’s Heads of Expenditure and the International Day for Eliminating Gender-Based Violence. Our Hon. women Members and the Secretary-General and women officers are in orange. None of us men wore it; so, we risk appearing the culprits.

¶ 02 This is a serious problem. Violence targets children and women most. The “orange” theme says “Brighter future for women and girls.” But to me, as a Transport Minister, it is like the orange light in traffic—if this goes further, it turns red. From today we must push back this trend—cyberbullying compounds it—especially harassment of women and children in transport. We will declare school van and office van guidelines in January and make CCTV mandatory in school vans so parents can monitor.

¶ 03 The main answer is to empower passengers. When anyone tries to harass a woman or child, people—men and women—must show solidarity rather than look away. But some poor conditions in our bus industry make bystanders hesitate. Professionalizing the bus industry and other transport sectors is key to turn orange to green.

¶ 04 I thank Hon. S.M. Marikkar for grounded, constructive points. Our Hon. State Ministers and Members will respond too. You noted Ministry progress. Across Roads, Transport and Urban Development, we expect 82–88 percent progress by 31 December. We accept we must do better and cover more.

¶ 05 On the Budget proposals: The President has given us 29 proposals amounting to an additional Rs. 52 billion beyond the 2026 Estimates, plus Rs. 8.6 billion directly to our Ministry. We have to “shift gear” from Day One. On Highways, we target 90 percent completion by 31 December; overall Ministry baseline target is 70 percent by 31 December. We are arranging volunteer-based procurement support and trainings for officials; with more money, we need more procurement capacity—this is a key bottleneck.

¶ 06 We have held three rounds of discussions with the Secretary and two State Ministers on Presidential proposals; the Department of National Budget has given us a clear article listing exactly what items of the President’s Speech pertain to our Ministry. We are doing our homework accordingly.

¶ 07 Our Ministry now spans many agencies: Road Development Authority (RDA); State Development and Design Corporation; Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation (SLLDC); Urban Development Authority (UDA); National Physical Planning Department; Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Department; and more. In transport: Department of Motor Traffic (DMT); Sri Lanka Railways; Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB); National Transport Commission; National Council for Road Safety; National Transport Research and Training Institute; Lakdiva Engineering (Pvt) Ltd. Each performs a national duty. We cannot cover all today, but we salute the heads and staff and ask them to be even more effective in 2026.

¶ 08 Urban Settlements: Urban Development was newly added to us; much credit for current gains goes to Hon. Aruna Karunathilaka. Deputy Minister Eranga will elaborate. Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku, now Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation, worked with us too. Any success must credit them.

¶ 09 On human resources: Past governments under-recruited, creating large gaps. We have insisted that every management committee address both development and management issues. In under a year, we recruited 3,975: Railways 1,405; SLTB 762; DMT 28; NTC 14; RDA 1,503; SLLDC 71; UDA 144; Coast Conservation 48. We will continue.

¶ 10 Regarding RDA remuneration: They handle about 30 percent of the capital budget, yet allowances and salaries are low. I have taken this up repeatedly with the Finance Ministry and spoken at their union meetings. My whole heart is with them. They even sent me postcards, not striking disruptively but appealing decently. I table this postcard in the Library. We plead with the Finance Ministry: if you want progress, resolve this.

¶ 11 BS schemes are man-made and uneven; we need uniformity. We cannot fix 25–30 years of distortions 100 percent overnight, lest new inequities arise. UDA and SLLDC engineers face these issues too. In general, engineers across our Ministry face pay anomalies; others have issues too. But we should resolve the engineers’ issue rationally and quickly. I have had the postcard recorded in Hansard—the first time perhaps. With everyone’s help, we can resolve it soon.

¶ 12 Highways: The President has allocated significant funds for rural roads. We have approved estimates totalling Rs. 22.29 billion for rural road projects. Our biggest achievement is restarting the Central Expressway; funds are allocated to complete it. We will also address feeder roads to Galagedara and Rambukkana to avoid congestion.

¶ 13 Ruwanpura Expressway: No donor yet, but land acquisition funding has started. We have allocated funds for land acquisition on the Dambulla road as well. We will fund a feasibility study for a coastal road from Galle Face Lotus Roundabout along the sea and a feasibility for a bridge over Kokkilai Lagoon to better connect North and East. Deputy Minister Prasanna Gunasekera will explain more.

¶ 14 The Port Access Elevated Highway is under severe stress due to the contractor’s financial crisis and other factors, but our Secretaries have worked out a solution; we hope to complete works around mid-next year and open it to port users.

¶ 15 Road safety: For the first time, we have elevated road safety to the top of the Transport Ministry’s agenda, allocating over Rs. 2 billion. Guardrails are being installed on blackspots; embankments are being fixed. We will modernize curve warning signage so drivers understand actual curve severity—today the same sign appears for gentle and severe curves.

¶ 16 We prioritized the North and East previously and will again. Funds have been allocated, including for the Kiran Bridge as announced by the President.

¶ 17 For the Malaiyaha community, beyond the Rs. 200 wage increase, we have reallocated Rs. 3.8 billion solely for estate roads: Rs. 1,000 million each for Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Ratnapura, and Rs. 800 million for Kegalle.

¶ 18 On SLTB: It has been decimated, but the President allocated Rs. 6.5 billion. We are rebuilding, including through Lanka Metro Transit (Pvt) Ltd. We aim to recruit drivers and conductors and by June start a pilot metro-style bus service with about 70 buses in the Colombo metropolitan area, and to provide 600 long-distance buses to SLTB.

¶ 19 Urban development: We plan quick improvements to basic facilities in a first batch of 25 major tenement housing clusters in Colombo within three to four months. The President proposed developing 10 key cities; initial discussions begin imminently. Our broader plan is to modernize at least 100 cities over five years—cities as liveable places, not just shopping strips—so people in towns like Avissawella and Eheliyagoda need not migrate to poor settlements in Colombo, but can access services locally with good connectivity.

¶ 20 SLLDC, under Hon. Anura Karunathilaka, and Members have done substantial flood mitigation in Kolonnawa and Gampaha, but urban floods remain to be tackled further.

¶ 21 Condominiums: It is a big, positive business, but residents’ rights are weak. Developers often bear only a one-year defect liability. In Singapore, certain liabilities extend up to 15 years for some issues like waterproofing. We will move towards stronger obligations. On the 53,000-house plan mentioned by Hon. Marikkar, we do not have all the money, but under Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara’s leadership, we will proceed in a phased, planned manner.

¶ 22 Kadugannawa landslide: It is tragic. I asked the RDA Director not to come here; he is on-site. As of this morning, per NBRI advice, we plan controlled slow blasting to remove the fallen and unstable rock and open one lane with blinking traffic lights. However, due to high humidity around 8.00 a.m., blasting risk increases. The carriageway has collapsed near the 98th km post. Deputy Minister Prasanna and Minister (Dr.) Dammika are engaged. We hope, after drier conditions and temporary repairs, to open one lane within a day or two, subject to NBRI guidance. A larger overhaul is likely needed; GSMB has begun drone surveys. We will brief the President and return with a full plan.