e-Government as part of Sri Lanka's overall development strategy

lirne.net: Rohan Samarajiva and Ayesha Zainudeen published an article about e-governance in Sri Lanka in the May/June issue of e-Gov, a bimonthly magazine on e-Governance published in India.

In 2002, the-government of Sri Lanka embarked upon a broad development strategy, with a focus on services. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) were identified as one of the key drivers of national integration and economic growth. The eSri Lanka Initiative (eSL), which was designed in 2002-03, was intended to 'take the dividends of ICT to every village, to every citizen, to every business and transform the way Government works … [to] develop Sri Lanka's economy, alleviate poverty, and improve the quality of life and the opportunities for all of our people.
e-Government services were seen as critical to the success of eSri Lanka. It was thought that these services, provided in all three official languages, would anchor an array of information, interactive and transactional services that would be produced by government, private, civil society, and individual actors.