The treasury has to make a monthly allocation of Rs. 1,350 million to pay salaries of the SLTB workers, which has become a burdensome task now.

A certain measure will have to be taken to make the institution not an encumbrance on the state, said Abeysinghe.

Already, a voluntary retirement scheme is underway to facilitate around 2,000 workers to retire from service, he added.

He said however, the SLTB would never be privatized, noting the country already has a private bus service.