Temporary measure to reduce new vehicles

Transport Deputy Minister Asoka Abeysinghe said the government made it compulsory to pay 30 per cent of the value of a vehicle to the leasing company when purchasing a vehicle on lease and it was just a temporary measure to reduce the number of new vehicles registered and not to create hardship to the purchasers of vehicles. 

Addressing a meeting of the Atugalpura Journalists’ Association he pointed out that one could take away a vehicle on lease without making an initial payment, but now the purchaser should pay 30 per cent of the value of the vehicle. 

“Statistically over 5 million families live in Sri Lanka, but 6 million vehicles have been registered. At present 600,000 motorcars, 3.2 million motorcycles, one million trishaws, 100,000 buses have been registered and this has created severe traffic congestion in the main roads. The government has proposed to reduce the staff of the SLTB through voluntary retirement. The SLTB has not paid ETF contributions since 2010. However, 7,000 new employees have been appointed for the period. At present the SLTB has 36,700 employees for 6,500 buses. The government is planning to streamline the affairs of the SLTB” he said. Public transport services in any country are not profit making enterprises but they are not running at a loss. However, in Sri Lanka public transport services are running at heavy losses” he said.