1. ~Government Information Centre~
A Flagship eGovernment Project
and a Success Story of Sri Lanka
Wasantha Deshapriya
Director
Re-Engineering Government Programme
Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka
www.icta.lk
wasantha@icta.lk
at http://twitter.com/Wasanthadesha

2. How it began?
● Even being a very senior government
officer, could you find the exact
information that you are looking for?
● Could we have all necessary information at
a common place so we could retrieve it
easily!

3. th
Official launch – 26 August 2006

4. A Success Story?
● People friendly Government;
Provides information through call centre
– On over 2000 govt services
– In 3 languages / highly courteous manner
– 12 hours x 365 days
– @ 98% satisfaction rate
– Annually over 1.5 mn citizens
– Costing less that 10 rupees per call
● Provides rich Information through website
● Facilitates submission of complaints/ grievences

5. Flagship project?
● The highest success rate
● Low cost. Highest return/outcome
● A solution for the language issue of govt
● National and island-wide coverage
● Internationally famed, rewarded
5

6. Another Aspect;
“Digital Intermediary”
High Mobile Penetration; low Internet penetration.
All web based information inaccessible to majority
6
Source: TRC of Sri Lanka

7. Railway Schedule
7

8. Railway Schedule
8

9. GovSMS services
Check Railway schedule from “Galle to Colombo Fort”
To: 1919
Slrd train gle fot
(2011-08-03
13.03.23 hrs)
SEND

10. GovSMS services
Check Railway schedule from “Baticaloa to Colombo
Fort”
From: 1919
Train form Galle to
Colombo
Fort; 03:30:00 hrs
Monday to Friday,
04.15.00 hrs
Saturday & Sunday
Rates; T:1C Rs 340
T:2C Rs 180
T:3C Rs 100

11. Foreign Employment
Opportunities

13. GIC provides web information to
ICT illiterate citizens to make their
lives better!

14. In comparison (in June 2011)
W eb hits SMS GIC Calls
Railway Schedule 456 30 10947
Foreign Employment 382 no SMS 5646

15. Top 10 available organizations:
June,2011
Organization Sinhala Tamil English Total Total%
SriLanka Railway
Department 10947 194 198 11344 12.17
Department of motor traffic 8528 145 123 8799 9.44
Department of Police 6118 88 73 6299 6.76
Divisional secreteriat 5895 107 62 6071 6.51
Sri Lanka Foreign
Employment Bureau 5646 139 29 5823 6.25
Department of Immigration
& Emigration 4679 131 137 4949 5.31
Department of Registration
of a Person 3453 117 35 3607 3.87
Ceylon Electricity Board 3272 54 30 3370 3.61
Department of
Examinations 3220 74 26 3324 3.57
Ministry of Education 2838 61 23 2929 3.14

16. Is all well at GIC?
Organization coverage is narrow!
● Organization coverage narrow!
Ministries 19
Departments 49
Statutory Bodies 49
Divisional Secretariats 1
Provincial Councils 2
Local govt 4
Govt Banks 12
Total 125

17. High number of calls for not
covered organizations (June 2011)
Organization Sinhala Tamil English
Ministry of Health 1178 18 12
Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission of Sri Lanka 1035 39 17
Ministry of Defence 755 23 23
Army Headquarters
Ministry of Economic 711 1 1
Development 533 7 19
Ministry of Higher Education 479 6 5
National Water Supply Board 452 10 14
Ministry of Local Government &
Provincial Councils 440 11 6
Parliamentary Complex 430 14 6
Airport & Aviation Services (Sri Lanka)
Limited (Bandaranaike International
Airport) 393 21 19

18. Slow Service manual updates
2009 - 24%
2011- 44% 2011
2010
2009
2010 - 32%

19. Original Manual Translation
Availability English Sinhala Tamil
Available 98 112 32
Not Available 27 13 93
Total No of
125 125 125
organizations

20. Content update Translation period(9th May-15th July)
Organization No. of updations received Progress Language
Department of Labour 14 updated E/S
Department of Manpower and Employment 05 updated E
Department of Forest Conservation 09 updated E
Department of Registrar of Companies 06 updated E/S
BOI 07 updated E/S
Sri Lanka Legal Aid Commission 01 updated E
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs 05 updated E
Department of Police 91 updated E/S/T
Department of Export Agriculture 24 updated E
Department of Elections 02 updated E
National Savings Bank 01 updated E
Department of National Museums 01 updated S
Lanka Puthra Development Bank ltd 02 updated E
Department of motor traffic 04 updated E
Sri Lanka Customs Department 01 updated E

21. Progress of complaints escalation through
call center period(9 May-15 th th
July)
Organizations Total no. of Answered Forwarded to Category
complaints received
Ministry of Health ICTA N/A
6 0
Public Service Commission ICTA N/A
2 2
Department of Irrigation ICTA N/A
1 0
Sri Lanka Foreign Contact Available
Employment Bureau person
4 0
Divisional Secretariat Contact Available
6 0 person
Electricity Board Contact Available
5 3 person
University Grants Contact Available
Commission person
1 0
Tertiary & Vocational Contact Available
Education commission person
1 0
Contact Available
Department of Labour 4 4 person
Urban Development Contact Available
Authority person
1 0
Department of Police Contact Available
3 1 person
Credit Information Bureau ICTA N/A
of Sri Lanka (CRIB) 1 1

22. In summary
● GIC is a win-win project for all around
However
● Not providing information to GIC
● Not translating content
● Not updating manual and GIC web content
● Not translating updates
● Finally not providing more and more
eServices
● Reduces the Citizen friendliness of Govt

23. Thank You!
Questions?