Former Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) board member Sanjiva Weerawarana claims the Chinese smart card system could have been done at a fraction of the cost.
Weerawarana made this statement on his official twitter account following a news report on the government's move to grant a Chinese company the contract for a smart card system to be installed at train stations in Sri Lanka.
"While I was on the ICTA board I helped write a report on this project which said we can build a more modern solution to railway ticketing locally at a fraction of the cost."
Weerawarana further noted that Smart cards were obsolete.
"Tragic that we lost this opp to go all mobile and paper/card-less. Smart cards are dead old now."
The Government has secured a loan from the Asian Development Bank for the installation of the e-ticketing machines at 353 train stations.