Sri Lanka Government clarifies no decision to cancel un-updated driving licenses

The Sri Lankan government announced that reports about canceling all un-updated driving licenses in Sri Lanka are completely false.

This was stated by Engineer Ranjith Rubasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Highways.

He clarified that no such decision has been made. Instead, a new system will be introduced to update the details of approximately 2 million driving license holders who haven’t updated their licenses yet.

This update process is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Rubasinghe made these comments today (August 23) during a press conference at the Presidential Media Centre, under the theme ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country.’

He also mentioned that since the 1960s, around 12.3 million driving licenses have been issued in Sri Lanka.

The Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Highways further explained:

“The first driving license in Sri Lanka was issued in the 1960s. Since then, approximately 12.3 million licenses have been issued.

Licenses from the 1960s do not have an expiry date, allowing them to be used indefinitely without renewal.

As a result, the information for about 2 million license holders remains out-dated.

The digitization of all transport sector services is currently underway. Procurement for the digitization of black marks and on-the-spot fines is nearing completion.

Starting January 1, 2025, fines and on-the-spot penalties will be managed through this new system, which will require updated information for all driving licenses.

We will soon implement a new method to update the information of nearly 02 million driving license holders who have not yet updated their details.

This process will not require new medical records or a visit to the Department of Motor Traffic. We aim to complete this update for all license holders by the end of this year.

It is important to note that no new driving licenses will be issued, nor will existing licenses be cancelled. Reports suggesting otherwise are entirely false.

Additionally, we plan to introduce the e-Driving License within the first six months of 2025.

Recently, due to a shortage of cards, we issued temporary driving licenses to approximately 800,000 individuals. To date, only 91,000 of these have received their cards.

We anticipate issuing the remaining cards within the next two months. Since last year, about 200,000 new driving licenses have been issued, and all of these will be processed before the end of this year.

Normal card issuance for new licenses will resume as usual next year.

Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic, Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe also attended this event.