A fleet of buses imported for the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and left idle for more than a decade is being refurbished and returned to service, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Gunasena said on Tuesday.
Fifteen of the buses have already been repaired and deployed, Gunasena said in a social media post following a site visit to review the refurbishment work. Of the 38 buses still out of service, 18 are expected back on the road within six weeks, with the remaining vehicles targeted for deployment before year-end.
Thirty new engines and thirty new gearboxes have been procured to support the programme, the deputy minister said, signalling that the operation extends beyond cosmetic repair to full mechanical overhaul.
The CHOGM buses have been a longstanding symbol of public-sector waste. Imported at significant cost for the 2013 summit hosted in Colombo under the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, many were left parked and deteriorating after the event, drawing repeated auditor general and parliamentary criticism over the years.
Returning them to active service fits into the NPP government’s broader clean-governance narrative. A new low-floor bus for the SLTB fleet was rolled out via Makumbura last week, and the SLTB has moved to card-only payments as part of wider public-transport modernisation.
No breakdown was provided on total refurbishment costs, nor on the routes the revived buses will serve.
