SRI Lanka has roped in National Computer Systems (NCS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SingTel Group, as the lead consultant in its e-government initiative. A consortium comprising NCS and Ceylinco Technology Infrastructure (a member of Sri Lanka's Ceylinco Group) has been awarded the 'e-Government Strategy Consultancy' project by the Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).
The consultancy project, funded by the World Bank, will map out the e-government framework and projects that will help to establish the e-Sri Lanka initiative. The project is expected to be completed by February 2004.
The e-Sri Lanka initiative is a government-private sector driven infocomm technology (ICT) initiative aimed at increasing Sri Lanka's overall national productivity and improving her global competitiveness.
The ICTA commissioned the project in Colombo yesterday. Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Manju Hathotuwa, ICTA's managing director and CEO, said: 'We are indeed pleased to have engaged NCS, a company with a long and proven track record in e-government to take the lead in Sri Lanka's e-government initiative.'
Mr Hathotuwa added the ICTA hoped to make use of NCS' 'strong domain knowledge, methodologies and practices to jump-start our own national flagship e-government programme for the economic and social prosperity of Sri Lanka'.
The NCS-Ceylinco consortium will work closely with ICTA and other government departments to develop comprehensive architecture and a roadmap for a national IT infrastructure, flagship e-services and IT policy framework for the Sri Lanka government, said NCS.
NCS, which has been involved in e-government and computerisation initiatives in Singapore, Mauritius and Hong Kong since the early 1980s, will provide e-government best practices and expertise.
Ceylinco Technology Infrastructure will impart local content and knowledge.
Tan Ching Khoon, director of Ceylinco Technology Infrastructure and chairman of Transview Holdings, said: 'Singapore has a strong track record of IT in government and business and this experience can be shared with many other countries in the world.'
He added that the e-government programme was 'the right strategy to bring Sri Lanka the benefits brought about by the deployment of technology in government for efficient public services infrastructure'.
Quelle: The Business Times, 11.09.2003
