Sri Lanka Railways lose 2300 acres of land
The Sri Lanka Railways has lost a large extent of land in extent of 2,300 acres given on long term lease by the UNP government in contravention of the Railways Ordinance that provides only for a five-year lease of any land that belongs to the Railways, Minister of Transport and Railways, Dallas Alahapperuma told Parliament yesterday (19).
He said some land has been given on 30.33 or 50 years lease when no such long term leases could be given under the provisions of the Ordinance.
Although revenue from the railways was only 2.5 billion rupees, the expenditure was 10 billion rupees. Therefore the Treasury had to contribute 7.5 billion rupees as a grant to the railways keeping it at the same level without any improvements.
The 330 railway stations could not be maintained properly due to the poor income earned by the railways. Sometimes it was even difficult to replace a burnt electric bulb at some of the railway stations, the Minister said.
To a question by JVP Parliament group leader whether the government intends to privatise the railway stations, the Minister said while there was no such policy, some stations like Kandy were given the right to display an advertisement hoarding.
Source: The Island
Tags: hoarding, improvements, long term leases, parliament group, provisions, railway stations, rupees, sri lanka railways, treasury
