The Hon. (Ms.) Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 In the past five years, 12,240 deaths occurred from road accidents. The 2014 P. Dayaratne Report on road accident reduction and the Parliamentary committee’s recommendations to strengthen and regulate the transport sector largely remain unimplemented after a decade. The National Transport Commission (NTC) must be strengthened—not only for buses, but also to regulate three-wheelers and school transport, for which NTC lacks legal mandate. For ten years, governments failed to do this.

¶ 02 Over 2,000 people die annually; most victims are pedestrians, motorcyclists, and three-wheeler drivers—primarily lower-income groups. A Parliamentary committee even studied international models, submitted recommendations, yet regulatory reform stalled. There is also the National Council for Road Safety; proposals exist to constitute it as a Commission with enhanced powers. After over ten years, no government implemented these. A Cabinet paper was recently submitted by our Government to amend the NTC Act, including long-pending reforms to regulate private transport and improve road safety—finally moving forward.

¶ 03 We are also working to reconstitute the National Council for Road Safety as a Commission and to build a system-wide approach where all agencies are coordinated. The Transport Ministry deserves credit for initiating what was neglected for a decade.

¶ 04 Finally, SLTB once carried the national bus service mandate. Over the past 40 years under 9-30 economic policies, the idea took hold to withdraw the State from operations and leave it to the private sector, with the State only regulating. Unfortunately, even the regulatory function—through NTC and the Department of Motor Traffic—was not duly carried out. Given the grievous toll—over 12,000 deaths in five years—road safety must be prioritized. I conclude with that appeal. Thank you.