Rolling stock from Pakistan for CGR
Pakistan will provide railway tankers to Sri Lanka railway on concessionary credit facilities. The Sri Lankan government is grateful to Pakistan for the supply which will be of immense use to C.G.R.
Minister Alahappruma said that although the prices of crude oil had been threatening to de-stabilize economies, the Sri Lankan government would take all possible measures to import railway carriages, engines and required materials in order to provide better public transport services to people. Sri Lanka had been spending an equivalent 10 per cent the country’s GDP on fuel imports for transport.
Transport is the bridge that will close the gap between the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). No economic development effort will be sustainable unless the transport networks are developed. More than 400 million people still live below the poverty line in the South Asian region despite the fact that the incidence of poverty has been on the decline over the past years, Transport Minister Dalla Alahappruma said at the Inauguration of SAARC Seminar on Public Road Passenger Transport held at Mount Lavinia Hotel recently.
Minister Alahappruma addressing the participants outlined that the seminar on Road Passenger Transport was the first of its kind for the SAARC Summit. Although seminars on railways, highways, road safety, aviation and ports were held, a seminar on road passenger transport had not been considered important.
He pointed out that in the South Asia region which is home to around 1.2 billion people, an estimated 3,500 million passenger KM were carried on the transport systems annually. A vast majority had been using road transport and in particular public road transport for their daily needs. Therefore a seminar on the omissions and commissions of the transport and their resolution were of vital importance and eventually the successes and failures the countries experienced would be of mutual benefit.
Minister Alahapperuma said that public transport would be developed as a priority measure and both the State and the Private sectors would be called upon to contribute towards this. The development of the entire public transport system had been neglected by the successive governments and the present government had redoubled its efforts to develop the public transport sector.
Minister Alahapperuma noted that the seminar on Public Road Passenger Transport in the SAARC region would be an important milestone for developing the public transport sector of the region. The lessons that each country would learn would share successes and failures could be considered as building blocks in the provision of better bus and railway services.
By Don Asoka Wijewardena
Source: The Island
