Sri Lanka is winding down the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) after 23 years and replacing it with two specialised entities — a GovTech agency focused on government digitisation and a Digital Economy Authority handling broader policy.
The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have pledged US $125 million collectively over the next four years for the transition, supplemented by Rs. 2 billion from the Treasury, the Sunday Times Business Times reported.
Industry experts said ICTA suffered from a longstanding identity crisis, lacking clarity on “whether it was a policy-making body or a project implementation agency” — a confusion that persisted across successive governments and undermined its effectiveness.
The cabinet decision to wind down ICTA has instructed the Treasury to proceed with liquidation. However, ICTA will not be fully dissolved until GovTech becomes operational, expected within three to six months. A court-appointed liquidator will determine which existing staff may be absorbed into the new entities — current employees are not guaranteed positions.
GovTech will take over key infrastructure projects, including Project LGN 2.0, which provides 100 Mbps fibre-optic connectivity to over 850 government institutions with planned expansion to 3,500 offices. The Lanka Government Cloud will be upgraded from LGC 2.0 to LGC 3.0 under the new agency.
The restructuring comes as Sri Lanka pursues a broader digital governance push, including the national biometric identity system and digital public services platform approved earlier this year.
