10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne

Jathika Jana balawegaya· National List· 26 November 2025 ·Debate: Debate: Appropriation Bill, 2026 - Committee Stage, Sixteenth Allotted Day

Public Finance
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Eranga Weeraratne clarified that although a tender referred to up to 15 million identity cards, the actual requirement is only five million. He said physical cards remain necessary because systems cannot yet universally accept digital-only IDs, including for Police identity checks. He added that the tender has not closed and has been extended to mid-December to amend the quantity to five million.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, a brief clarification: although a tender was called mentioning up to 15 million, only five million are needed. Our systems cannot yet universally accept digital-only IDs. If the Police stop someone, they must prove identity on the spot; a card is needed. The tender has not yet closed; it has been extended to mid-December to amend the quantity to five million. I say with responsibility, we are not going for 15 million.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Wednesday, 26 November 2025 ·No. 22993 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
Page · column
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Permalink
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Cite as: The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 26 November 2025. No. 22993. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/22047