A new bill was tabled in the House of Assembly on Friday to start the process of making the Public Transportation Board (PTB) a Government Department.

Permanent Secretary of Tourism and Transport Marc Telemaque said on Friday, The Public Transportation Board Amendment Act 2006 sought to move the Board into an advisory capacity. ?The Act starts the process by which the Board becomes a Government Department following the recommendations of the recent report on quangos discussed in the House of Assembly,? Mr. Telemaque said.

Currently the PTB is a Government Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation (quango).

The new law will strip PTB of its ?independent legal entity? as a quango into part of the civil service.

Power has also been removed from the Governor to appoint members of PTB to Tourism and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, it said.

The Board said the new Department will be headed by a Director of Public Transportation, who must operate the Department on strict business principles.

However, when asked about the bill, PTB director Dan Simmons referred all comments to Mr. Telemaque.

?This Act shall come into force on such a day as the Minister appoints, by Notice in the Gazette,? the Act said.

Shadow Tourism Minister Jamahl Simmons did not want to comment on Friday.