Enhanced features to be added to QR Fuel Pass soon – ICTA
The operations of the National Fuel Pass will be further streamlined with more developments coming under Phase two and three, which have already been designed, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Chairman Jayantha De Silva said.
De Silva told the Daily News that phase two and three of the National Fuel Pass would be launched in the near future to make the process more convenient for users. The ICTA Chairman said ICTA has developed a software application (App) for the people to find which fuel stations have fuel and the level of their stocks at any given time, and it would be launched under Phase two of the National Fuel Pass.
“We have to come to grips with the reality that the fuel distribution will be limited in the coming year in the face of the prevailing foreign exchange scarcity. Therefore, a shed which received a fuel bowser today may not receive another bowser tomorrow. The App has been developed to help people find which shed they should go to pump fuel. There will be green, yellow and red indications to show the amount of fuel these stations have. Red means very low or no stocks,” the Chairman explained.
He pointed out that this App would be useful to find fuel when travelling long distances. “For example, if you are going from Colombo to Kandy, and want to fill the fuel tank while in Kandy, the App will guide you to the nearest shed where fuel is available,” he said.
The Chairman said, under the third phase, a token system would be introduced to reserve a time slot to pump fuel. “Then you can book your time and come to the shed within that hour to get fuel. These developments will be gradually incorporated into the Fuel Pass system. When you are going for a National Programme, challenges are many. We are going step by step. Since the QR Code-based system has now been adopted by almost all sheds, we hope we can go into the second and third solutions in the near future,” he added.
A total of 5.53 million users have been registered with the QR Code system of the National Fuel Pass as of Saturday night to receive a weekly quota of fuel under the fuel rationing system in place. About 593,000 transactions had been done under this system on Saturday and a total of 5.1 million litres of fuel had been issued to the users within that day.