The World Bank said its Board has approved a 50 million U.S. dollar Sri Lanka Digital Transformation Project intended to increase the use of digital services by people and businesses and to enhance access to investment for IT firms. A World Bank press release describes the project as supporting digital government service delivery while also strengthening the country’s digital economy.
According to the project documentation, the program aims to leverage shared digital public infrastructure to expand service delivery to more than four million people and 25,000 businesses, and to connect more than 50 government systems to shared platforms. The project is described as structured around deploying DPI for public services and fostering growth in the IT and startup ecosystem.
The project’s Digital Government and Services component is budgeted at 37 million dollars and includes development of an online citizen and business service portal and an associated “SuperApp.” It also includes plans for a digital locker, described as enabling secure storage and sharing of digital versions of official documents. The same component references a digital authentication solution, electronic signatures, a national data exchange for interoperability, and a government hybrid cloud environment referred to as GovCloud.
A second component, Digital Startup Ecosystem and IT Industry Development, is budgeted at 10 million dollars. It is described as supporting startups and mid-sized IT firms with an emphasis on expanding to international markets and attracting customers and investment.
The project’s focus on authentication, digital signatures, interoperability infrastructure, and document-sharing mechanisms reflects common building blocks used in national-scale digital service delivery programs, where shared platforms are used to standardize access and integration across agencies and service channels.
Sri Lanka has been working toward a comprehensive digital identity system for several years. The country recently completed a procurement for 700,000 biometric ID cards from Thales, and launched a tender process for Indian firms to build a MOSIP-based digital ID system with a pilot launch targeted for mid-2026. The UNDP and Asian Development Bank pledged support for Sri Lanka’s digital transformation at the DPI Summit in February of this year.
Sources: World Bank
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By Cass Kennedy
