President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (05 Feb.) received 50 buses provided by the Government of India.
The buses were ceremonially handed over to the Head of State at the Presidential Secretariat this morning, by Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, commemorating Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Anniversary.
President Wickremesinghe inspected two of the buses after declaring them open by cutting the ribbons, and instructed to direct these buses to all SLTB bus depots islandwide.
The consignment of buses is part of a total of 500 buses promised by India, following a request made by Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardena, in an attempt to better the public transport services in the island’s rural areas.
75 buses were handed over to Sri Lanka under this project, while 40 more are currently in the process of being registered, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.
Accordingly, with a total of 165 buses having been provided to Sri Lanka by the Indian Government thus far, the project is anticipated to be completed by March 2023.
source Adaderana
