Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga has pledged to extend government support to both public and private bus operators to upgrade their services and help them run as profit making ventures.

Addressing the official ceremony of establishing the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), Kumaratunga said the government was ready to uplift the private bus sector too in the same manner it was improving the public transport services, reported the Daily News.

"We have formulated plans to run both bus services as profit making services and provide a better service to the public," she said.

Kumaratunga as the Minister in charge of Transport, symbolically handed over the keys of the new buses imported from Japan to the managers of the Nittambuwa, Kadawatha and Katubedda depots which have been selected to run pilot projects in the process of formation of the SLTB.

The three bus depots are scheduled to begin bus services from Oct. 3 under the SLTB, Kumaratunga said, adding the 30,000 workers at the SLTB should commit themselves to upgrade the newly established SLTB.

She said steps have already been taken to operate SLTB buses and private buses under mutually agreed common time tables.

"That helped them to increase the number of private buses to 12,000. We are ready to provide them with more benefits if they are ready to provide a better service," she added.

Source: Xinhua