LNP – Traffic fine payments soon to go digital with ‘Govpay’

The public will very soon be able to settle traffic fines through Govpay, the recently introduced official online payment platform for government-related services, according to a top official from the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).

ICTA Board Member, prominent technology entrepreneur, and impact investor Harsha Purasinghe revealed that ICTA is working to enable this service, which will provide significant relief to motorists.

“We will see very soon that traffic fines can be paid through the platform as well. We are working on it,” he said at a recent forum in Colombo.

Government sources confirmed that ICTA has already finalised the groundwork, and a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is expected to be signed shortly.

The Sri Lankan government launched the Govpay digital payment platform to facilitate secure and convenient digital transactions for various government-related services, including taxes, fines, utility bills, educational fees, and other charges. The platform streamlines transactions by eliminating the need for in-person payments in government offices.

When the new ICTA Board was appointed recently, Purasinghe recalled that Govpay was immediately identified as a low-hanging fruit. Although it had already been piloted, he noted that it was sidelined for unknown reasons. After significant effort and coordination with several other agencies, Govpay was finally launched to the public with many new features within a short period.

“When we launched Govpay on the 7th, we had 16 government organisations onboard. As of today, we have 25 organisations. Every week, we are adding new public institutions,” Purasinghe added.

He also highlighted the challenges faced by the new ICTA Board during its initial period, as many employees had left the entity, and ICTA was heading for closure. However, the new government, through a cabinet decision, reactivated the entity.

Notably, the new ICTA Board has been working without drawing salaries, demonstrating their commitment for driving digital transformation in the country.

“So, we actually got ourselves onboarded to a dead body. The people had pretty much given up. Most of them had left, and others were just waiting for the liquidation process to happen. 

“You can imagine what we got into because there were so many challenges to hiring people, as it was meant to close down. But our dynamic board team, led by Dr. Hans Wijeyasuriya, managed to find ways,” he elaborated.

ICTA is set to be replaced by a new digital institutional framework under the new government. (NF)