Sri Lanka’s e-Motoring project gets underway after prolonged delay
Sri Lanka’s e-Motoring project is getting off the ground after a long delay of around 13 years since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the ICT Agency and the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) on May 20, 2005.
The project implementation is now underway following the approval given by the cabinet of ministers assigning the task to Face Technologies-Metropolitan joint venture recently, a senior official of the Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry said.
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has forwarded the current proposal in accordance with the recommendation of a Cabinetappointed Standing Procurement Committee.
The Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (CAPC) on behalf of the Commissioner General of Motor Traffic has called bids from pre-qualify contractors and/or firms for the implementation of proposed e – Motoring Project on Built-OperateTransfer (BOT) basis.
After evaluating bids CAPC has recommended to award the contract to Face Technologies, a South Africa-based company founded in 1993 that specialises in card technology and biometrics. Metropolitan is a leading Sri Lankan technology company which has a large presence in the office automation business.
The Face TechnologiesMetropolitan joint venture project is aimed at deploying comprehensive ICT solutions at the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) and Provincial Department of Motor Traffic (PDMT) to provide selective services in an efficient manner.
One key aspect of the project is said to be the creation of a digital vehicle registry under DMT, which would be accessible to other relevant state agencies such as the Police Department.
The Public Accounts Committee of the present Parliament highlighted the delay in implementing the project in its report released on September 22, 2016.
It has been revealed that a sum of Rs.740 million allocated for this purpose during the period from 2009-2015, was utilised for other purposes of the Transport Ministry by changing the heads of expenditure.
The committee expressed its displeasure over the inefficiency of the department and directed the Chief Accounting Officer to submit a detailed report with dates on how the programme is implemented.
Several ad hoc improvements were made to the information communication network of the DMT spending millions of rupees during the past decade but the e-Motoring project has not been properly implemented, a senior official of the Transport Ministry told the Business Times.
On July 7, 2016, the then cabinet of ministers approved a proposal to improve the vehicle registration process at the Motor Traffic Department with the introduction of an e-Motoring Project.
The Ministerial Committee on Economic Management had recommended the cabinet to implement the project on build, operate and transfer basis.
The project is expected to introduce an electronic file management system while improving the current vehicle registration system and database.
After evaluating bids CAPC has recommended to award the contract to Face Technologies, a South Africabased company founded in 1993 that specialises in card technology and biometrics. Metropolitan is a leading Sri Lankan technology company which has a large presence in the office automation business