More than 70 engineers and government officials involved in infrastructure and highway development projects in Sri Lanka attended the Sustainable Highway Infrastructure workshop organized by Ministry of Ports and Highways, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) and Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) held on 16 December 2012.
The workshop’s theme focused on the need for new and existing infrastructure to comply with high-quality technical standards, meeting strict environmental and health standards and anticipate future demographic developments, in context of the 21st century.
The topics covered were relevant to participants emphasizing on the aspects of user costs, energy consumption, and long term environmental benefits that might need to be factored for a sustainable solution for highway development. Breakout sessions were scheduled in between the sessions so that the participants could present their queries, concerns, and ideas on the aspect of sustainability in infrastructure development specific to highway development.
Chief guest Mr. R.W.R. Pemasiri, Secretary, Ministry of Ports and Highways opened the seminar followed by four consecutive sessions providing the participants an overview on the environmental sustainability, green design and construction practices of a given highway project.
Some of the distinguished session speakers included Prof. S. W. Garrity, Hoffman Wood Professor of Architectural Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, England, UK; Prof. Makarand Hastak, Professor of Civil Engineering, Head of Construction Engineering and Management, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University and Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Dr. Naveed Anwar, Executive Director, AIT Consulting opened the first session with an overview on Sustainable Infrastructure.
