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In the face of rising fuel price, Sri Lankan government is trying to curb the fuel use of the country. Sri Lanka’s deputy Finance Minister, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that they would not try to force the country’s private sector to cut fuel use. Sri Lanka is now trying to cut energy usage of the country by 20% but the government will not impose any laws on productive sectors of the economy. Mr. Siyambalapitiya also said that there had been a proposal to ration petroleum but it was discarded.

Sri Lanka Business Online reports:

"The recent price increase was recognition of this principle," he said.

Siyambalapitiya said the government was starting energy audits for its offices and was aiming to cut energy use by about 20 percent.

"We know it is a difficult target but we want to gain efficiencies in energy use," he told reporters.

He said the state-run Energy Conservation Fund had expertise on energy management which could be tapped by both the public and private sectors.

Mr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya denied the claim of having 40% of the country’s vehicle on the road belonged to the state sector. He said that government and provincial administrators had 9,500 vehicles and state organizations other than Sri Lanka Transport Board had 3000 vehicles. Mr. Siyambalapitiya said that trains, state buses and military consumed significant amount of oil.

Rising fuel price has created serious problem in Sri Lanka but there are large number of government vehicles used by high government officials and ministers which consumes lots of fuel. Recently, the Sri Lanka Railways was planning to double its fair but the 17000 railway workers pay very low amount. For its huge loses, Sri Lanka Railways has become a huge burden on the country. Bus fares have also risen due to fuel price hike. I think the first step to curb fuel use should come from the political leaders and government officials. Then people will also motivate to curb the fuel use. 

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