Ministry of Transport and Highways

The Ministry of Transport and Highways^[3] (Sinhala: ප්‍රවාහන හා මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: போக்குவரத்து மற்றும் நெடுஞ்சாலைகள் அமைச்சு) is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for transport. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on transport and other subjects which come under its purview.^[4] The current Minister of Transport and Highways is Bimal Rathnayake.^[5] The ministry's secretary is Nihal Somaweera.^[6]

Ministry of Transport and Highways

ප්‍රවාහන හා මහාමාර්ග අමාත්‍යාංශය போக்குவரத்து மற்றும் நெடுஞ்சாலைகள் அமைச்சு
Ministry overview
Jurisdiction	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters	7th Floor, Sethsiripaya, Stage II, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka 6°55′37.80″N 79°51′35.70″E
Annual budget	Recurrent Rs. 32.919 billion (2019)[1] Capital Rs. 36.261 billion (2019)[1]
Minister responsible	Bimal Rathnayake[2], Minister of Transport and Highways
Ministry executive	N.B. Monty Ranatunga, Secretary
Child agencies	Department of Motor Traffic National Transport Commission National Transport Medical Institute Sri Lanka Railways Sri Lanka Transport Board
Website	transport.gov.lk

Ministers

The Minister of Transport and Highways is a member of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka.

Ministers of Transport

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	Head of government		Ministerial title	Refs
	Mohamed Macan Markar			1931	1936			Minister of Communications and Works	[7]
	John Kotelawala			1936	1945				[8][9]
			United National Party	26 September 1947			D. S. Senanayake	Minister of Transport and Works	[9][10][11]
							Dudley Senanayake		[9][12][13]
				1953	1954		John Kotelawala		[9][14]
	Montague Jayawickrama								[14]
	Maithripala Senanayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	12 April 1956			S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike		[15][16][17]
					8 December 1959		W. Dahanayake	Minister of Transport and Power	[18]
	Robert Edward Jayatilaka		Independent	9 December 1959	20 March 1960			Minister of Transport and Works
	Montague Jayawickrama		United National Party	23 March 1960	1960		Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Nationalised Services, Shipping and Transport	[18]
	P. B. G. Kalugalla		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 July 1960			Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Transport and Works	[19]
	Anil Moonesinghe		Lanka Sama Samaja Party	11 June 1964	March 1965		Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Communications	[20]
	E. L. B. Hurulle		United National Party	March 1965			Dudley Senanayake	Minister of Communications	[21][22][23]
	Leslie Goonewardena		Lanka Sama Samaja Party	31 May 1970	2 September 1975		Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Transport	[24][25][26][27][28][29]
	K. B. Ratnayake		Sri Lanka Freedom Party				Sirimavo Bandaranaike	Minister of Transport	[30][31]
	M. H. Mohamed		United National Party	23 July 1977			J. R. Jayewardene	Minister of Transport	[32][33][34]
	Wijayapala Mendis		United National Party				Ranasinghe Premadasa	Minister of Transport and Highways	[35][36][37]
	Srimanee Athulathmudali		Democratic United National Front (L)	1994	1997		D. B. Wijetunga	Minister of Transport, Highways, Environment and Women's Affairs	[38][39][40]
	Dinesh Gunawardena		Mahajana Eksath Peramuna	19 October 2000			Chandrika Kumaratunga	Minister of Transport	[41]
				14 September 2001				Minister of Transport and Environment Protection	[42][43]
	Gamini Athukorala		United National Party	12 December 2001				Minister of Transport, Highways and Aviation	[44][45]
	Felix Perera		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	10 April 2004				Minister of Transport	[46][47][48]
	A. H. M. Fowzie		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 November 2005			Mahinda Rajapaksa	Minister of Railways and Transport	[49][50][51]
	Dullas Alahapperuma		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	28 January 2007				Minister of Transport	[52][53][54]
	Kumara Welgama		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	23 April 2010					[55][56][57]
	R. M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara		United National Party	12 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena	Minister of Internal Transport	[58][59][60]
	Nimal Siripala de Silva		Sri Lanka Freedom Party	4 September 2015	14 October 2015			Minister of Transport	[61][62][63]
				14 October 2015	15 December 2018			Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation	[64]
	Arjuna Ranatunga		Democratic National Movement	15 December 2018	21 November 2019			Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation
	Mahinda Amaraweera		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	22 November 2019	12 August 2020		Gotabaya Rajapaksa	Ministry of Transport Services Management
	Gamini Lokuge			12 August 2020	23 May 2022			Minister of Transport
	Bandula Gunawardane			23 May 2022	22 July 2022			Minister of Transport and Highways
				22 July 2022	24 September 2024		Ranil Wickremesinghe
	Vijitha Herath		National People's Power	24 September 2024	18 November 2024		Anura Kumara Dissanayake	Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation
	Bimal Rathnayake			18 November 2024	Present				[65]

Secretaries

Transport Secretaries

Name	Took office	Left office	Title	Refs
M. Rajendra	1964		Permanent Secretary	[66][67]
D. S. Jayaweera			Transport Secretary	[68]
D. T. P. Collure	5 May 2008		Transport Secretary	[69]
Lalithasiri Gunaruwan	25 April 2010		Transport Secretary	[70]
B. M. U. D. Basnayake	22 November 2010		Transport Secretary	[71]
Dhammika Perera	12 January 2011		Transport Secretary	[72][73][74]
Lalithasiri Gunaruwan	22 January 2015		Internal Transport Secretary	[75][76]
Nihal Somaweera	8 September 2015		Transport Secretary	[77][78][79]