The Hon. (Dr.) Prasanna Gunasena - Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity. As the Hon. Minister stated, we took ten measures regarding elephant–train collisions. I table those measures and begin my speech.

¶ 02 The Hon. Minister also said we must reduce train cancellations. I received yesterday’s report: only one train was cancelled while 286 trains operated. This is our first Budget. We know the benefits will not trickle down overnight. But this Budget marks a turning point, ending decades of failed economic management and transforming to a people-oriented economy.

¶ 03 Our Ministry—Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation—is a large one, directly interfacing with the public through about 16 major institutions. Some of these can paralyze the entire country for a day. Yet their condition is dire, after years of politicization and bankruptcy. If we continued three or four more years like this, they would collapse.

¶ 04 SLTB workers’ conditions are deplorable—no basic facilities, even canteens. Offices are dilapidated; staff fear roofs may fall. I will not belabour this. Even toilets are lacking; facilities are filthy. Everyone knows the state of the Central Bus Station (CBS). We are expecting daylight from buses when the system is in darkness. Without giving workers what they deserve, we cannot deliver to the public.

¶ 05 We should place signs at SLTB depots: “All SLTB employees are human.” Why did this happen? Decades of politicization. Appointments went to party activists after elections: whoever sat on a chair acted as the officer-in-charge. We have changed that political culture without changing chairs. We respectfully ask incumbents to change course—recognize the public mandate and commit to serve. If you persist in old, corrupt ways, the eventual damage will be worse.

¶ 06 Operationally, SLTB needs about 7,300 buses daily; our current fleet is about 5,500, and only about 4,500 can be deployed daily due to shortages of drivers, conductors and technicians. In December last year, total monthly mileage was about 972,000 km; by the People’s Month, we raised it to about 1.1 million km.

¶ 07 A bus’s lifespan is roughly one million km, typically with two engine overhauls. Theoretically, we are losing about one bus per day from the fleet. To simply maintain current service, we must add at least one new bus daily—roughly 300–400 per year. Since 2017, only nine super luxury buses were imported; later, under the Indian Credit Line, more buses were brought in amid controversy. After seven years, we now have policy consensus to import 1,100 buses to rebuild SLTB.

¶ 08 The President has allocated Rs. 3,000 million to import low-floor city buses. SLTB also plans additional bus categories from its own funds and other sources. For expressway operations, SLTB has 144 buses; 135 of them are over ten years old and only Euro 2/Euro 3 emissions, not Euro 4. We plan to add 200 expressway buses this year. We have revived Lakdiva Engineering: after being run down and offered for sale, under new management we turned out 3 rebuilt buses in November, 12 in December and 24 in January—showing how to rebuild fallen institutions.

¶ 09 On the Kandy Multimodal Transport Terminal (KMTT), initiated in 2022: responsibilities were first given to the UDA, then shifted to the RDA, causing long delays and city chaos. Moving bus parks from the Goods Shed to scattered locations caused financial losses. For example, the Kandy North Depot’s 50 buses now travel about 20 km daily just to refuel, costing Rs. 148,230 per day—Rs. 4,446,900 monthly—because of project delays. We will not align national development schedules with election calendars. This Budget allocates Rs. 7,730 million. We target completion of KMTT civil works by May 2027. Parallel access corridors are planned: sites identified at Uduwatta (Iriyagama area), Katugastota and Thannekubura for parking, with pre-feasibility done and Rs. 1,500 million allocated. With this, we can implement a comprehensive Kandy transport plan and systematically resolve congestion within about two additional years after civil completion. Another Rs. 400 million is allocated this year for KMTT access improvements.

¶ 10 On the Central Expressway: divided into four sections—Kadawatha–Mirigama; Mirigama–Kurunegala; Potuhera–Rambukkana and Rambukkana–Galagedara; and Kurunegala–Dambulla. Sections Mirigama–Kurunegala and Kadawatha–Mirigama (packages 1 and 2) were contracted in 2015–2016. Yet delays of nearly a decade have inflated costs from an initial estimate of Rs. 158 billion to over Rs. 350 billion due to mismanagement, stop–start works and corruption. Following discussions during the President’s China visit, Exim Bank of China will fund 85 per cent. Their team is arriving shortly. We aim for 60 per cent physical progress within this year with an investment of about Rs. 81,300 million. The Potuhera–Rambukkana section is targeted for completion by May next year, with Rs. 34 billion allocated. Land acquisition for Rambukkana–Galagedara is complete; construction will commence soon. We will complete the Central Expressway within our five-year term.

¶ 11 There is also a major blunder: the Kadawatha–Mirigama section is intended as a continuation of the Outer Circular Highway, but a 500-metre link at the Kadawatha entry was not included when agreements were signed on 04 August 2015—forcing a detour. This year we allocate Rs. 5,000 million to fix such gaps. The Auditor General’s report notes that for 15 months from April 2021, work stopped due to the economic crisis, yet standby costs and vehicle misuse occurred.

¶ 12 Mismanagement extended even to lavish offices at the RDA head office. We prefer national planning excellence over palatial offices.

¶ 13 On roads, the so-called “One Lakh Kilometre” carpeting program started, spending was easy but unsustainable; many roads were left half-done, now broken. This Budget allocates Rs. 6,650 million to restore them.

¶ 14 On Mattala Airport: construction cost was Rs. 36.5 billion; losses in the last five years (2018–2023) total Rs. 38.5 billion—exceeding the construction cost. Despite such legacies, we are rebuilding institutions one by one. The Opposition did not expect our movement to be here; within five years, we will take this country to an unexpected place.

¶ 15 Thank you.