New regulations on importing buses

The Ministry of Transport has decided to enact regulations on maintaining standards when it comes to importing passenger buses in the future.

State Minister of Transport, Ashok Abeysinghe said the relevant draft regulations would be tabled in Parliament soon.

He said some 500 luxury buses would be purchased with inputs from investors to ease the prevailing traffic congestion resulting with the influx of buses from outstations.

The state minister said the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) operated its services with a fleet of 5,500 buses. Thirty six of them were less than two years old, 2,200 buses were less than five years old and 1,500 buses between five and 10 years old while some 1,000 buses were between 10 and 20 years old.

He said no buses had been imported after 2014 and that most of the 110 buses operating on the expressway were more than 10 years old.(Dayaseeli Liyanage)