ISTT No-Dig Summit Program Held in New Delhi and Colombo

The International Society for Trenchless Technology’s (ISTT)2013 Summit/Masterclass program drew toa close after the final two events were held in New Delhi and Colombo July 25-31. The first part of the programincluded Summits in Bangkok and Manila in May.

More than 600 delegates from 329 organizations registeredfor the overall program of four events. In addition, a total of 16 companies supported the Summits and took theopportunity to display their technology and to interact with delegates at eachvenue. 

Keynote speakers in Delhi featured Mr. V.S. Thind, ChiefEngineer at the Delhi JAL Board, as well as Mr. Nilangshu Basu, Principal ChiefEngineer of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. 

At the Colombo event, keynote speaker The Hon Minister forWater Supply and Drainage, Dinesh Gunawardena announced that new water supplyand sewerage systems are to be constructed in Colombo using the new trenchlesstechnology brought to this event. Theinvestment will amount to some US $18 million in the water supply and US $4.5million in upgrading the sewerage infrastructure. This news was reported in the Sri Lanka DailyMirror. Mr. KarunasenaHettiarachchi,Chairman, National Water Supply & Drainage Board, also provided a keynoteaddress.

The ISTT Masterclass program is designed to increaseeducation on trenchless technology, primarily in parts of the world where noISTT affiliated society is based. In depth presentations on specifictechnologies were presented by ISTT Chairman Sam Ariaratnam and past ChairmanDec Downey. In addition, case studypresentations complementing these topics were presented by suppliers whorecounted experience of using the techniques on job sites and highlighting thechallenges and success stories in a variety of geological conditions.

“The ISTT No-Dig Summit 2013 program has proved to be a hugesuccess,” commented Ariaratnam. “We are indebted to our sponsors of thisexciting program, which has enabled us to introduce trenchless technology to anadditional four regions, each of which is planning new construction developmentand seeking information on new technologies and techniques.”

Further Summits are being planned in 2014 in Vietnam, Koreaand Indonesia.

The Summit programs are organized on behalf of ISTT byWestrade Group Ltd. For furtherinformation contact trenchless@westrade.co.uk or ph:+44 (0) 845 094 8066.