New Postal Act to be presented in House within this year

A new Postal Act will be presented to Parliament within this year to expedite the modernization process of Postal Department State Minister of Mass Media Shantha Bandara said.

The modernization process is planned to be carried out as a joint public-private sector partnership at a cost of Rs.10 billion and that the Postal Department will not be privatized at any cost, State Minister Shantha Bandara said.

He expressed these views yesterday during a press conference themed ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’ held at the Presidential Media Center (PMC).

It is expected to convert the Postal Department into a profit-making institution within the next two years, through the digitization of the Department, the Minister pointed out.

Further the Minister said that by the end of 2023, the loss of the Postal Department will be reduced by Rs.4000 million.

“When President Ranil Wickremesinghe assigned me this Ministry he entrusted me with the challenge of converting the Postal Department into a profit generating institution. The Postal Service’s income in 2022 was Rs. 7, 000 million while the expenditure was Rs.14, 000 million.

I discussed with the relevant officials and took steps to reduce the gap between the income and the expenditure of the Postal Department from Rs. 7, 000 million to Rs.4, 000 million. It is planned to resolve the gap between income and expenditure by the year 2024. In 2025, our goal is to create a Postal Department that no longer depends on the Treasury.” State Minister Bandara said.