• Research finds 5,500 vehicles not operational, Rs. 20 b savings if vehicles are rented/leased from pvt. sector  

Government vehicles which are running at a cost of Rs. 300 per kilometre (km) can be run at a cost of Rs. 100, per data contained in a research paper prepared by the Department of Manpower and Employment on public resource management which was presented at the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Energy and Transport.

The above was revealed when the said Committee met in the Parliament on 20 March under the Chairpersonship of Nalaka Bandara Kottegoda. 

Here, the relevant research paper indicated that according to the statistics of the year 2022, government institutions own about 82,000 vehicles, of which, about 76,000 are in running condition while around 5,500 vehicles are not in running condition. According to the research, it was identified that the cost of driving 1 km of a vehicle in running condition is approximately between Rs. 300-500. The research shows that it was identified that if these vehicles required by Government institutions are hired from the private sector on a rent or lease basis, it is possible to run 1 km with Rs. 100 or less. Thus, if this process is followed by removing the State-owned vehicles, it was revealed that about Rs. 20 billion Government expenditure can be saved.

Taking this information into account, Kottegoda recommended that a sub-committee be appointed under the Chairpersonship of Parliamentarian Yadamini Gunawardena to conduct a thorough study of this research paper and to submit a report to the Parliament.