The Hon. K. Sujith Sanjaya Perera

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Heads of Expenditure of several important ministries today.

¶ 02 The Ministry of Transport is crucial, providing essential services to a large public. We thank the Hon. Minister for commencing today the initiative to enable bus fare payments by card. We hope this will be rolled out islandwide and implemented in SLTB buses as well. There is public concern about whether any commission fees will be charged by intermediaries or banks on such payments. I request the Hon. Minister and the Hon. State Minister to assure the public that no commission will be charged to passengers when paying fares by card; that assurance would be very welcome.

¶ 03 Regarding transport, a few issues: staffing. Though buses are operating, at times due to shortages of drivers and conductors, buses do not run according to schedule. I understand recruitment is underway. I request that recruitment of drivers and conductors be expedited to normalize services. The Minister also stated that new buses will be procured.

¶ 04 There has been much discussion about bus bodies being built on lorry chassis and operated—this is unacceptable. For 40–50 years, we have used buses imported from India. Buses from China or Japan would be very costly and unaffordable for SLTB. Most buses used even in other countries are Indian-built. We should therefore reintroduce these buses to our transport fleet.

¶ 05 In my Kegalle District many roads are difficult terrain; luxury buses from Japan or China are unsuitable. There is a shortage of small buses—type “C”—which are essential for difficult rural routes; their import in recent years has been sluggish. We must facilitate renewed import and deployment of adequate numbers of type “C” buses for rural services.

¶ 06 On wages, there are anomalies in SLTB employee pay. Although increases were granted, they were not implemented systematically according to a code, leaving employees unable to realize those increments. Please address and regularize this.

¶ 07 SLTB has long been dominated by trade unions—not solely under the current Government, but the situation has persisted. Even after you assumed power, problems remain. Particularly, employees not joining ruling-party-affiliated unions face discrimination—denied access to good buses, removed from duties, or kept on standby. I urge the Minister and Government MPs to end these injustices. You pledged good governance without political victimization. Allow employees to join unions or parties of their choice without retaliation.

¶ 08 On railways, the Kelani Valley line extension to Ratnapura has been repeatedly announced. Given current finances, we doubt its feasibility. Instead, please prioritize upgrading existing lines. Properly improving the Avissawella–Colombo line and fully modernizing the Kelani Valley line could significantly reduce congestion on the High Level Road, potentially enabling travel from Avissawella to Colombo Fort or Maradana within about an hour.

¶ 09 On Highways: significant funds are allocated for road development. Regarding the “100,000 km roads programme” started by the previous Government, vast sums were wasted as works commenced but not completed. Please prioritize finishing projects that were started and abandoned, especially carpeting works already begun.

¶ 10 Finally, in my Yatiyantota electorate, the Garagoda bridge connects many villages. Work began over three years ago but progress is very slow. I request urgent attention to complete it, as many people will benefit. Thank you.