Transport Trouble

Apr 06, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's supply chain losses are the highest in the region with a poor road network and congestion resulting in transport delays and higher costs, an expert said.





Kumarage, a former chairman of the national transport commission, said better transport policies and implementation were required apart from building better roads and an expressway network.



Amal Kumarage, chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, said the cost of losses in the supply chain is estimated at 100 billion rupees a year.

The cost of accidents is estimated at 30 billion rupees and the cost of congestion at 35 billion rupees, he told a forum.

The cost of time lost in public transportation because of poor scheduling and lack of reliability is estimated at 20 billion rupees, said Kumarage, a professor of transportation engineering at the Moratuwa University.

Kumarage said the island's transport and logistics sector has an annual turnover of about 90 billion rupees and accounts for about 15 percent of gross domestic product.

The sector employs about 1.5 million in the country with 20 million people with 85 percent being in the informal transport sector.