ISTT No-Dig Summit Program Held in New Delhi and Colombo
The International Society for Trenchless Technology’s (ISTT) 2013 Summit/Masterclass program drew to a close after the final two events were held in New Delhi and Colombo July 25-31. The first part of the program included Summits in Bangkok and Manila in May.
More than 600 delegates from 329 organizations registered for the overall program of four events. In addition, a total of 16 companies supported the Summits and took the opportunity to display their technology and to interact with delegates at each venue.
Keynote speakers in Delhi featured Mr. V.S. Thind, Chief Engineer at the Delhi JAL Board, as well as Nilangshu Basu, Principal Chief Engineer of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
At the Colombo event, keynote speaker The Hon Minister for Water Supply and Drainage, Dinesh Gunawardena announced that new water supply and sewerage systems are to be constructed in Colombo using the new trenchless technology brought to this event. The investment will amount to some US $18 million in the water supply and US $4.5 million in upgrading the sewerage infrastructure. This news was reported in the Sri Lanka Daily Mirror. KarunasenaHettiarachchi, Chairman, National Water Supply & Drainage Board, also provided a keynote address.
The ISTT Masterclass program is designed to increase education on trenchless technology, primarily in parts of the world where no ISTT affiliated society is based. In depth presentations on specific technologies were presented by ISTT Chairman Sam Ariaratnam and past Chairman Dec Downey. In addition, case study presentations complementing these topics were presented by suppliers who recounted experience of using the techniques on jobsites and highlighting the challenges and success stories in a variety of geological conditions.
“The ISTT No-Dig Summit 2013 program has proved to be a huge success,” commented Ariaratnam. “We are indebted to our sponsors of this exciting program, which has enabled us to introduce trenchless technology to an additional four regions, each of which is planning new construction development and seeking information on new technologies and techniques.”
Further Summits are being planned in 2014 in Vietnam, Korea and Indonesia.
The Summit programs are organized on behalf of ISTT by Westrade Group Ltd. For further information contact trenchless@westrade.co.uk or ph:+44 (0) 845 094 8066.
