Legal, institutional reforms propel Digital ID project
Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya.
The Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID (SLUDI) project is now at the stage of floating a Request for Proposal (RFP), which will kick off the project, a top official said.
“Following Cabinet approval in Sri Lanka for the final set of amendments, the Government of India can release the RFP in line with the Inter-Government MoU. Then we can look forward to the sandbox of the Digital ID within the next three to four months, where our software developers, public and private sector institutions and Digital Ecosystem at large can experience the power of an open digital ID platform,” Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy and Chairman of Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) said in an interview with The Sunday Times Business.
Efforts are underway to create the institutional and legal reforms required to support the acceleration of the digital economy. This will involve new legislation such as that required to establish the Digital Economy Authority and a regulatory framework for Cyber Security, as well as review of existing legislation. “We recently proposed some changes to the Data Protection Act to improve institutional capabilities and open it up to cross-border data flows,” he added.
The Data Protection Act and the Data Protection Authority will be operational starting in September to October this year, and there is an extension of time for it to come into force later this year.
“The legislative review will apply for the various pieces of legislation which impact and enable the overall digital economy blueprint, such as the Registration of Persons Act, Electronic Transactions Act, Telecom Act, among others,” Dr. Wijayasuriya said.
The Government’s emphasis on digital transformation is demonstrated through the Rs.24 billion allocation across the whole of government. Of this, Rs.3 billion is focused on new projects specific to the acceleration of specific infrastructures and capacities in the digital economy blueprint. Around Rs. 7 billion has been allocated to projects of the Ministry of Digital Economy for ongoing activities, both operational and capital in nature. The balance of Rs. 14 billion is allocated to various ministries and institutions across the government for ongoing and new advancements in digital infrastructure and the provision of digital services.
Stressing that the Sri Lankan digital payment landscape is world-class, Dr. Wijayasuriya said that this year, the ICTA has identified payments as an area for quick wins. “The first area was government payments. It is now on a trajectory that shows almost exponential growth. We expect an increasing number of institutions to come on board to enable this growth,” he added. Drawing from experiences in India, Thailand and Malaysia on QR payments, where consumer behaviour and payment enable such payments on a wide scale with a high penetration, he noted, “We have a cross-industry working group, with representatives from all stakeholder groups addressing the blocking points in the eco-system, and will continue to make recommendations on how QR and other forms of digital payments, such as tap and go, and transport payments can be made mainstream.” The government is planning to digitise transit overall, such as in trains, buses, etc, and will extend to parking as well.
Dr. Wijayasuriya said that streamlining public services is a challenge each line ministry and institution needs to take on, starting with pre-digitisation efforts to perfect processes based on granting prime importance to the citizen experience and ease of doing business. “Digital is an enabler and not a cure for all. Therefore, process transformation has to happen.”
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