52% SLTB buses have expired life span: Bandula

Colombo, May 28 (Daily Mirror)- Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardane said today 52 percent of buses belonging to Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) have expired their life span.

He told the weekly briefing on Cabinet decisions that the government is short of funds to replace them at the moment.

"At least 52 percent of buses have expired their life span. We have no funds to replace them. We are not in a position to obtain foreign loans currently until the debt restructuring process completes. We managed to procure 500 buses on the Indian credit line," he said.

The Minister said the train service is also in critical condition and said even 50 to 60 years old train engines are being used. 

"Thanks to our engineers, we are using some 50 to 60 years old train engines," he said.

He said railway tracks on the coastal line should be changed every five years while railway lines in other areas could be used a little more than that and added that however, such routine maintenance is not possible due to shortage of funds.

"The northern railway line is being renovated under the Indian credit line," he said.