Towards a National Land Transport Policy for Sri Lanka's Socioeconomic Development and Sustenance: Revelations Through Recent Policy Statements and Propositions

The Sri Lankan transport system has been blamed for its inadequacies and inefficiencies, reflected in customer dissatisfaction on one hand and the obstacles it poses to the nation's socioeconomic development on the other. This is despite many efforts to develop national transport policies and strategies in the past. Although some of these policies were translated into implementable actions, many others failed to progress beyond the formulation stage. Consequently, it remains questionable whether the responsibility for the sector's unsatisfactory performance lies in the substance of the formulated policies themselves or in the gap between the policies formulated and their practical implementation. The present study was initiated to examine the salient features of each such policy initiative, identify which elements were effectively implemented and which were not, and the reasons behind this, with particular focus on policy formulation initiatives in the post-insurgency period. This article summarises the outcomes of that analytical exercise, including the essential elements contained in previously proposed policy frameworks, as well as key policy guidelines that may be considered in formulating a socioeconomically development-conducive and sustainability-oriented National Transport Policy framework.