Treasury doles out Rs. 2.8 billion to Sri Lanka Transport Board
View(s):By Bandula Sirimanne
The Treasury has doled out Rs. 2.8 billion to Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), a loss-making state owned bus utility as a cash injection for workers welfare, finance ministry sources said. The cabinet of ministers had approved a proposal by Transport Minister Kumar Welgama to use this money to give a salary increase and allowance to SLTB employees, ministry sources revealed.
Driven by increases in 2011 in the fuel bill of 6 per cent, and salaries and wages of 15 per cent, SLTB’s total expenditure has increased by 3 per cent to Rs. 23 billion from Rs.22.3 billion in 2010. Operational losses increased by almost 14.4 per cent to Rs. 2 billion in 2011 from Rs.830 million in 2010, according to Finance Ministry data.
In 2011 the SLTB had been given a Rs. 3.94 billion subsidy on top of a Rs.4.6 billion rupee cash handout the year earlier, according to the data.
Despite an increase in the government budgetary support to Rs 5.18 billion in 2011 from Rs.4.46 billion in 2010, the SLTB’s total revenue declined to Rs. 21, billion from Rs. 21.5 billion in 2010, a senior official of the ministry said.
However during 2011 the SLTB added 157 new buses and 869 fully repaired buses to its operational bus fleet which stood at 511 at the end of 2011. The board has ventured into new inter provincial routes and commenced a new bus service on the Southern Expressway way recently.
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus