The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation

¶ 01 Answer to question:

¶ 02 (a) I accept that during the period when vehicle imports to Sri Lanka were suspended, bus owners holding route permits issued by the National Transport Commission who sold their unroadworthy buses had to wait until bus imports recommenced to purchase a new bus.

¶ 03 (b) During that period, many permit holders surrendered their route permits to the National Transport Commission.

¶ 04 (c) (i) We have issued written instructions to Provincial Road Passenger Transport Authorities to waive log sheet fees due for the period during which the route permit book and labels were retained in their offices when new buses are registered to the permits. However, in some instances these log sheet fees were not waived; permit holders have informed the National Transport Commission accordingly, and the Commission has re-notified the relevant Provincial Authorities.

¶ 05 (ii) Permit holders were unable to replace with new buses due to the suspension of bus imports.

¶ 06 (iii) Yes. I accept that charging fees for periods when buses were not in operation is unfair. Therefore, after confirming the non-operational period, we have instructed the Provincial Road Passenger Transport Authorities not to charge log sheet fees for such periods.

¶ 07 (iv) Yes. As required, Provincial Transport Authorities are being reminded to grant the relevant fee exemptions.

¶ 08 (v) Not applicable.