10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Anuradha Jayaratne

New Democratic Front· Mahanuwara· 7 March 2025 ·Debate: Debate: Appropriation Bill 2025 - Committee Stage (Heads 117, 123, 306, 307, 309-311, 332, 336)

Public FinanceInfrastructure
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Anuradha Jayaratne argued that the transport sector requires restructuring beyond traditional methods to meet national targets. Citing the Doluwe–Kandy route, he said road infrastructure had improved but bus services remained outdated, and he supported a new model with private participation where the State cannot bear the full burden.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to speak on the Heads of Expenditure of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation, and Urban Development, Construction and Housing.

¶ 02 On transport: in the general Budget debate I said we must move beyond traditional approaches and restructure the sector with out-of-the-box decisions. Otherwise, we will not reach our targets. In my area—from Doluwe to Kandy—roads were carpeted and improved, but the same GP 17 bus still runs as decades ago; only the late “Podi Vijaya Maama” is gone. The model must change. As the Minister said, we need a new approach—bringing in private participation where the State alone cannot carry the burden.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Friday, 7 March 2025 ·No. 1743066559006904 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
Page · column
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Cite as: The Hon. Anuradha Jayaratne. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 March 2025. No. 1743066559006904. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/17930