Another consignment of metro buses reached Colombo Port on Wednesday, the latest delivery in the fleet expansion planned for Colombo’s urban bus network.
The two newsrooms reporting the arrival gave slightly different counts. NewsFirst said 104 buses had arrived at the port, while Hiru News reported that a ship carrying 106 new metro buses was due to berth at the Eastern Terminal during the afternoon, citing an announcement from the Ministry of Ports and Aviation.
Metro Bus Company Chairman U. P. Thilakaratne told NewsFirst that the buses will be put on nine routes linking Colombo with its suburbs, and that they are expected to enter service from the end of next month. He put the value of a single bus at Rs. 42 million — implying a shipment worth roughly Rs. 4.4 billion at the 104-unit figure.
Hiru reported that the Sri Lanka Transport Board will deploy the buses once technical inspections and registration procedures are completed. The Ministry of Ports and Aviation said the vehicles were imported to further systemise and formalise the country’s passenger transport service, while NewsFirst described them as luxury buses brought in to offer more comfortable travel.
The delivery follows the agreement signed in May with Indra Traders (Pvt) Ltd to import 104 buses for the Metro Transit Company, an SLTB affiliate. Ada Derana reported in June that those units would come from China’s FOTON International Corporation, with all of them scheduled to reach Sri Lanka by August 2026.
Groundwork for the larger fleet has been running in parallel. Construction of a new metro bus depot at Kadawatha was cleared in May, a second depot is planned for Ratmalana, and the operator added eight new stops on the Makumbura–Colombo–Kadawatha corridor in June.
Sources: 104 Metro Buses Imported To Boost Public Transport Services — NewsFirst; Another ship carrying metro buses arrives in Colombo today — Hiru News.
