Korea provides assistance for implementation of e-Sri Lanka Project

The Government of Korea has agreed to provide a loan equivalent of US$ 15 million (Rs. 1,500 mn) to finance the Re-engineering Government Programme of the e-Sri Lanka Projet.

The total cost of the e-Sri Lanka Project is US$ 83 mn (Rs. 8,300 mn) of which US$ 53 mn (Rs. 5,300 mn) is funded by the International Development Association of the World Bank and US$ 14 mn (Rs. 1,400) is funded by the Government of Sri Lanka.

The total cost of the Re-engineering Government Programme is US$ 35 mn. In addition to the EDCF contribution of US$ 15 mn, the World Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka will provide US$ 11 mn and US$ 9 mn respectively, states a Finance and Planning Ministry press release.

The e-Sri Lanka Project is implemented by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office.

This project is to promote the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to, (i) generate growth, employment and equity (ii) provide affordable access to means of information and communication including access by citizens and business to public information and service on line and (iii) encourage and enhance competitiveness of industries, small and medium enterprises and other private sector institutes.

The objective of the Re-engineering Government Programme is to facilitate a secured communication network between Government agencies of Sri Lanka and abroad in order to reduce administrative burden at agency sites by providing centralised control and network management.

The proceeds of the loan will be used to establish the basic information technology infrastructure (Server, PC, Network Equipment and Software) to connect approximately 500 Government agencies.

The Loan Agreement for the Re-engineering Government Programme was signed today at the Ministry of Finance and Planing by Dr. P. B. Jayasundara, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Tae-Dong Park, Executive Director of EDCF Group of the Export-Import Bank of Korea on behalf of the Government of Korea.