Transport Minister Dallas Alahapperuma told Parliament on Thursday (19), that the annual cost of fuel and man hours lost due to traffic congestion in the Colombo city was Rs. 34 billion.

He was answering a supplementary question raised by JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the City Line Bus Service launched by the Ministry as a solution to traffic congestion. It was a new concept and he asked the JVP to support it.

Minister Alahapperuma said that the Sri Lanka Central Transport Board and Sri Lanka Railways had earned an income of Rs. 154 million and Rs. 224 million respectively from monthly season tickets during the months of August, September and October last year.

The Minister said that a tyre manufacturing plant for the SLCTB would be launched in Ampara by the end of April for the SLCTB buses for which monthly tyre requirement was around Rs. 18,000. The new plant will produce nearly 3,000 tyres per month and this would further cut the costs of the SLCTB, he said. "We also hope to add around 400 new buses to the fleet soon after the new plant commences work," he said.