The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of Parliament

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, thank you for the time.

¶ 02 We begin today’s debate under sad news of a fatal road accident. Reckless commentary aside, I express condolences and reaffirm our focus: public safety and service.

¶ 03 This is the first Committee Stage debate for our Ministry under the NPP Government. I, my two State Ministers, government Members, and even the Hon. Prime Minister will present matters; we also expect constructive criticism and proposals from the Opposition.

¶ 04 Our guiding policy to our 75,000 officers is simple: we look after you; you look after the people. The President supports public servants, and we resolve their promotion/SOR issues fairly. No political vendettas; honest, non-corrupt officers’ politics is irrelevant to us.

¶ 05 Road safety: 4–5 deaths a day historically; now slightly reduced, but still unacceptable. Beyond building good public transport, we must urgently protect lives. We are identifying hazardous spots nationwide—rockfalls, unsafe layouts—and rectifying them. There are about 400 unsafe level crossings; with public and private participation, we aim to secure all of them within this year.

¶ 06 Traffic management: many signals lack countdown timers, causing anxiety and emissions. Using the RMV Trust Fund with private support, we will roll out countdown timers in Colombo and nationally.

¶ 07 Parliamentary Subcommittee on Transport Safety and Service Quality under Hon. Lakmali Hemachandra will review the legal framework comprehensively. We expect near-term mandates like seat belts in public transport and other safety upgrades.

¶ 08 We will organize three-wheeler and app-based driver cooperatives with a dedicated social security fund (e.g., 0.5% of trip fares), learning from Indian states, to professionalize the trade and protect workers.

¶ 09 Railways: Tourists find our system attractive, but it is not healthy—delays and cancellations persist, though improving. Engines cost about Rs. 1.5 billion each, so immediate upgrades target service reliability with existing assets. We will add rest areas, women’s waiting rooms, and lockers at major stations within months, and fix the online booking system (we have already cracked recent frauds with Police support).

¶ 10 Freight: currently around 28% of cargo moves by rail; we plan to expand rail cargo as a mainline business.

¶ 11 We will extend the Avissawella line to Ratnapura—fulfilling a long-held public aspiration—with community consultations, and improve speed and commercial viability from Padukka to Avissawella.

¶ 12 We will brand stations and invite private investment into non-core commercial spaces while safeguarding core operations. Artists have proposed restoring the historic Nanu Oya–Nuwara Eliya alignment (~8 km) solely for tourism, run by private tour operators; we will conduct a feasibility study recognizing geotechnical risks.

¶ 13 Gender inclusion: virtually no women serve in many railway/SLTB roles. Marking International Women’s Day, we have decided to recruit women—drivers, guards, and especially for school bus services—across SLTB and Railways.

¶ 14 Accident forensics: after major crashes—e.g., the Thoriya area collision of two buses—we deploy experts from the National Transport Commission to study root causes like lack of bus bays and implement permanent, low-cost fixes.

¶ 15 Parliamentary engagement: our Ministry Advisory Committee has met twice, with three subcommittees—on legal reforms (Hon. Lakmali Hemachandra), on organizing transport workers and social protection (Hon. Chandana Sooriyaarachchi), and on developing supportive businesses at depots/stations (led by State Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe, with strong input from Hon. Jagath Withana).

¶ 16 Ports: We will not privatize the East Container Terminal. It is a moral issue—won back by people’s struggle. However, ports are a global industry; we must bring in top private players for projects like West Container Terminal 2 and Colombo North Port as per the master plan—through competitive processes—while retaining ECT fully public.

¶ 17 We will modernize depots/stations’ commercial potential without selling core railway land, focusing on supportive businesses. Hon. Jagath Withana’s private sector expertise is being constructively used.

¶ 18 Roads: We have allocated Rs. 8,000 million for Northern roads—development runs to the last mile bridging rural villages, not merely big showcase bridges.

¶ 19 Department of Motor Traffic: we are cleaning up and digitizing a previously corruption-ridden modernization effort with the Digital Ministry—online licensing, registrations, and anti-fraud.

¶ 20 Driver training: we will strengthen driving schools and standards. We must replace superstition on bus dashboards with proper training and enforcement.

¶ 21 Payments and digitization: We aim to introduce card payment on the Southern Expressway by the Sinhala-Tamil New Year, and expand online top-ups for tolls.

¶ 22 Contractors’ meeting: We will convene all contractors and insist on clean tenders and performance—no bribes, timely payments for proper work, and blacklisting for fraud. Communities must be engaged for road design, drainage and maintenance.

¶ 23 Aviation and major projects: We will push to complete the Port Access Elevated Highway through the port (a long-delayed project) within this year; kick-start Central Expressway Phase 1 with China Exim Bank support; revive the Kandy Multimodal Transport Terminal (halted unreasonably); and develop Mattala Airport by attracting aircraft MRO operators—we have initial green lights from leading foreign engineering firms. BIA Phase II, stalled by corruption, will restart with construction by October. For ECT, we target commencing 50% of works by July; equipment are customized and lead times are unavoidable, but we will press on.

¶ 24 Finally, we have drastically reduced Ministerial and personal staff expenditures—monthly averages cut from historical figures by nearly sevenfold; details are tabled in the Library.

¶ 25 Please continue to point out shortcomings fairly. Thank you.