ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka Railway department hopes to expand Public Private Partnerships and earn more non-passenger revenues to offset recurring operational costs, an official said.
“For the past 10 years, except the last few years, the Railway operational income only covers around 50 percent of the operational expense of the Department,” the General Manager of the Railway, D.S. Gunasinghe told EconomyNext.
“Our plan is to increase the non-passenger revenue of the Railway department.
“And we cannot expect and do not hope for money from the government.”
Sri Lanka Railways already has agreements with Prima, a food firm, and Insee Cement, which is bringing in additional income, Gunasinghe said.
“We had agreements for material transportation such as sand in the past, however it was canceled but we hope to start it again” he said.
The department will rent out its storage facilities and circuit bungalows for the tourism sector to create additional revenue streams.
Sri Lanka Railways recorded an operating loss of 10.3 billion rupees during 2021, compared to a loss of 10.1 billion rupees in 2020, the Central Bank 2021 annual report showed.
The total revenue of the SLR stood at 2.7 billion rupees, a 41.3 percent drop from a year ago.
(Colombo/ Feb 06/2023)
Ask them to start private carriages of what was in operation past from the Private sector like Rajadhani and other companies