22 services launched under the eGovernment initiative

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

The Government eServices project spearheaded by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka celebrated a landmark achievement last evening, launching 22 important eGovernment services, further strengthening the country’s Government sector by making public services easily accessible to the citizens of Sri Lanka via the internet and mobile communication systems.

Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga who was the Chief Guest at the historic event launched several of these services. “All this has been made possible by the vast collective effort of many people and agencies. It would have been impossible to achieve so much by the effort of a handful of individuals,” he emphasised in his address while thanking the many agencies involved in this initiative.

“Our goal in the near future is to make all public services available to every citizen in this country in their own households and eliminate the need to visit several Government institutions time and time again in order to obtain services, which is the current practice.”

“Never in our history have we launched so many people-friendly applications at once and it gives me great pleasure and pride to be present on this historic day. We want to bring the information revolution to every citizen in this country, especially those in the villages, instead of limiting it to a privileged few,” stated ICTA Chairman Professor P.W. Epasinghe in his welcoming address. “The ICTA is barely 10 years old and was set up as an institution with highly capable professionals undertaking the needful and the Agency has therefore been able to show results very early – one could in fact call it a child prodigy.”

He added that the main duty of a Government elected by the people was to provide a more flexible and friendly public services and the initial step for this had been taken by introducing Government eServices which has continued to expand rapidly since its inception.

The three key eServices were launched by Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga. This included the EPF eServices which was launched in collaboration with the ICTA, EPF and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka which will now allow 13.3 million EPF members to easily access their account information via the eGovernment portal. A citizen simply has to register with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to obtain a log in name and password after which they can access the online portal in a secure manner.

The second service was launched in collaboration with the Department of Examinations through which any student or parent can apply for O-Level and A-Level certificates. There are currently 100 to 150 students applying for their certificates on a daily basis and this service will allow them to do so from the comfort of their homes provided they have the year they completed the exam in and their index number. The service also provides different collection methods for the certificates for added convenience.

The Sri Lanka Tea Board collaborated with the ICTA on the third service, a multiple service delivery service, which will allow nearly 400,000 tea growers and 700 tea factories to obtain real time tea prices. The elevational average tea prices are generally issued on the 10th of every month but due to discrepancies and delays, brokers and farmers find it difficult to obtain real time information. This service will allow them to do so via the online portal, SMS or the 1919 Government information service.

All in all, five services in relation to the merchant shipping sector from the Ministry of Ports and Highways, four services from the EPF Department, three services from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, two services from the Department of Examinations, two services from the Department of Motor Traffic, one each from the Sri Lanka Tea Board, the National Water Supply Board and the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka and the purchase of tender document online from Sri Lanka Railways were amongst the services launched.

The Government eServices project has made it possible for several essential services in day-to-day lives of ordinary people to be carried out instantly and easily. Obtaining examination certificates, information on vehicle registration, carrying out duties relevant to foreign employment, obtaining account information about the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and ascertaining tea prices can now be carried out through the Government eServices portal which can be accessed via www.srilanka.lk.

These services can be obtained in Sinhala, English and Tamil and the services of several institutions and other relevant information can also be obtained via SMS.