sri lanka engineering news - wild apricot

The Newspaper of The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka Vol. 55, No 01, January / February 2019Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper No. QD/42 /News/2019

Eng. Prof. T. M. Pallewatta,Int. PEng., CEng., FIE(SL), FIAE(SL)President, IESL, 2018/2019Senior Professor in Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, OUSL

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Fellow Engineers, Other categories of IESL members, Staff of the IESL Secretariat and Readers,

This is the first time I am addressing you as the President of the IESL through Sri Lanka Engineering News (SLEN), our Newsletter. However, for nineteen long years I have been addressing you

practically through all periodical publications of the IESL. From the turn of the Millennium, in 2000 to 2004, I addressed you as the Editor through this same SLEN, each month, with a message for thought regarding our Profession, our Nation or Ourselves. Then, from 2005 to the end of last year, 2018, I reached you as the Editor, through the Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (ENGINEER). Further, I had the rare privilege to reach you as the Editor for the Annual Transaction Technical Paper Publication from 2005 to 2010. So, all in all those of you who have read even a few of my messages know to a good extent who I am and what I stand for.

For sake of record and emphasis, let me dedicate this installment of the President’s Corner to reiterate the content in my Presidential Address delivered at the Inauguration of 2018/2019 Session of the IESL.

First and foremost, let me express my gratitude to you; our membership for electing me to be the President for the 113th year of our Institution. I can assure you that I shall endeavor in my humble capacity to uphold the trust you placed in me.

As an Engineer and a Sri Lankan, I feel that becoming the President of the Institution of Engineers is the pinnacle of achievement and it is with great humility that I accept the fact.

If they could have been here, on this day to see me placed in this esteemed position, the happiest would have been my parents. My father, Diamond Pallewatta, himself an Engineer was the inspiration behind me that made me an Engineer in soul and heart before even entering the university.

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'IGNITE 2019' by Young Members' Section

The Organizing committee and the IESL dignitaries

The Students’ Chapter o f Un ivers i t y o f Peradeniya - Young

Members Section of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, successfully organized IGNITE 2019 in parallel to the career fair programme conducted by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya on 26th January 2019.

The event was conducted to provide undergraduates the required guidance and knowledge of the level of industry expectations before they graduate.

During the event IESL conducted a membership d r i ve to reg i s te r 650 undergraduates as IESL Student Members.

IESL President, Eng. (Prof.) Pallewatta was the chief guest for the event and as well as for the career fair. In his speech, he highlighted the du ty o f the s ta te university graduates to serve the country as a goodwill gesture to the society which by and large funded their education.

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Is Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill a viable option for the garbage menace in Colombo?by Eng. (Prof.) Mahesh Jayaweera & Eng. (Dr.) Buddhika Gunawardana

With the collapse of Meethotamulla open dump on 14th

April 2017, local authorities of Colombo did not have an alternative site to dump the municipal solid waste (MSW) collected in Colombo and suburbs. At the time of the collapse, it was the biggest

open dump in Sri Lanka receiving more than 290,000 metric tons of mixed MSW annually with a daily receipt of about 800 metric tons. This catastrophe affected 418 families adversely and directly, took the lives of 32 people, destroyed 60 and 27 dwelling units entirely and partly, and caused public nuisance and inconvenience to many in the neighborhood.

The National Engi-neering Conference 2018, organized by

the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, was held on August 30, 2018, themed “Sri Lankan Engineering for National Development – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’, was an out-standing success with six prominent expert speakers, provocative and engaging debate, unprecedented enthusiasm and active participation of nearly 300 engineers. This 5th Nation-al Engineering Conference organized by the IESL brought together some of the Sri Lankan experts who are the leaders of many engineering disciplines to discuss our current tech-nological policy priorities and how to orient towards the future by learning from past experiences.

The aim of this year’s con-ference was to look at the future technological ad-vances that could make the Figure 1: Bird’s eye view of the Aruwakkalu sanitary

landfill site with the laying of the liner system

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President’s Corner

Outcomes of the National Engineering Conference 2018

Established 1906

SRI LANKAENGINEERING NEWS

by Eng. Chandana Jayawardana

Environmentalism is a major global theme emerged over the

last 40 years, influencing the very roots of business, government and dai ly routines of the common people. Sustainability is the organizing concept that rallied support for en-vironmentalism and has now emerged as a core global value. Sustainable societies are said to relay on growing capabilities to manage global environ-mental issues. The Rio Summit in June 1992, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Pro-gram (UNEP), is today hailed as a main guideline in this attempt.

Much quoted definition (loosely) of sustainability, ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations’ is one of the outcomes of this Summit and its Agenda 21 report is the framework for many global environment man-agement programs today.

New trends are develop-ing to implement these theoretical and perceptual frameworks as practical manifestation.

Sustainability principles are part of school curricula worldwide and education systems are adjusting to provide the needed skills. International environmental science and engineering programs are in place un-

der the auspices of many institutes. Hundreds of thousands of new jobs have been created for en-vironmental professionals. Environmental engineering is an area of booming job prospects. The expertise of civil engineering today includes monitoring infra-structure’s effect on the en-vironment. Environmental monitoring capabilities are built into the infrastructure, such as in roadside emis-sions testing.

With all these measures in place, how can we assess whether we are in the right path? Are we to wait for few future generations to eval-uate the ultimate effect ofthese measures? One pos-sibility is to turn back and look at the past societies and understand how they survived for thousands of years without jeopar-dizing the futures. As Sri Lankans, we are much fortunate in this endure as several engineering ac-complishments, construct-ed thousands of years ago, still among us serving the society.

With this in mind, a series of articles will be published in coming SLEN issues un-der the theme of ‘Till Sun and Moon Shines’. Eng. Chandana Jayawardana, the author of this series, is to explore the sustain-able approach of our past engineering works and to see the factors contribut-ing to their longevity. His academic background in engineering and cultural studies and his research interests in our ancient sciences and technologies should provide the neces-sary platform for this effort.

"Eng.Chandana Jayawardana has

earned his first degree in Electrical Engineering from

University of Moratuwa and then, post graduate

qualifications in Industrial Engineering and Buddhist Studies. He is currently working

as Design Manager, Balfour Beatty Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd, Katunayake"

The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka

120/15, Wijerama MawathaColombo 7, Sri Lanka

Tel: 2685490,2698426, 2699210Fax: 2699202Email:[email protected]/[email protected]:http://www.iesl.lk

• Late Eng. B.D. Rampala Memorial Lecture held by IESL........................................3

• IESL commenced New Year with a celebration...3

• Farewell Party to IESL Staff by Immediate Past President, 17 / 18...................3

• IESL Christmas Party 2018........................................3

• IESL commenced New Year with a celebration....................3

• IESL Christmas Party 2018.....3

• Farewell Party to IESL Staff by Immediate Past President, 2017/18 Session.....................3

• Editorial ..................................4

• Team Building for Women Engineers................................4

• New Arrivals IESL Library........5

• March of Progress towards

Sustainability.....................6 & 9

• Towards a Viable Solution for Improving the Road Safety Situation in Sri Lanka...............................11

Eng. Lalith Pallegama - Editor

IESL STAFF

Mr. Chamila PriyanthaManager Publicity- Publicity Division Email: [email protected]

Eng. Suran Fernando- Sub Editor

in this issue

EDITORIAL TEAM

Featured Column

113th Annual SessionsThe Institution of Engineers,

Sri Lanka Call for Papers

Technical papers are invited under the following categories

♦Engineering theory/research (academic) oriented technical papers ♦Technical papers based on Engineering practice/design /projects/ techniques

The paper should be of value and interest to Engineers and aimed at making a contribution to the advancement of the Profession of Engineering. It must be based on review of past practice, information of current interest, or probing into new fields of engineering activity. It should be a presentation of thought provoking study contributing to planning, analysis, design, construction, fabrication, production, management or maintenance of Engineering works. In this context, practical papers are strongly en-couraged. Wherever possible, theoretical papers should include a section on practical application or additional research areas to be pursued for effective technology transfer.

Submission of Papers:Intention of submitting a paper should be conveyed to the IESL with an abstract of the proposed paper. The abstract, not exceeding 300 words in English, together with details of the author/(s) can be submitted in electronic format at the URL https://easychair.org/conferences/?-conf=iesl2019.

Schedule of Key Dates♦ Last date for receipt of abstracts.....31st March 2019

♦ Notification of acceptance.........01st - 15th April 2019 ♦ Last date for submission of...............30th June 2019 full paper♦ Proposed dates for...........17th & 18th October 2019

Technical Paper presentation at the Annual Sessions

Best Paper AwardBest paper based on the marks given by referees and judges at the presentation, will be entitled to the pres-tigious Prof. E.O.E. Pereira Award.

Mailing AddressAll correspondence besides submissions in electronic format through URL https://easychair.org/conferences/?-conf=iesl2019 should be addressed to:

Eng. (Prof.) Jagath Manatunge Editor, Technical Papers for Annual Sessions,The Institution of Engineers,Sri Lanka, 120/15, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7. Tel: 011-2698426, Ext. 232, 207Fax: 011-2699202 Email: [email protected]

For more information visit website www.iesl.lk (check Announcements)

Till Sun and Moon Shines...

Sri Lanka Engineering News - January / February 2019 2 IESL NEWS

Late Eng. B.D. Rampala Memorial Lecture

held by IESL

IESL commemorated the 108th birth anniversary of the Late Eng. B.D.Rampa-

la at the Wimalasurendra Au-ditorium of its Headquarters on Thursday, 14th November, 2018 in the presence of a large audience comprised of Council members, Past Presidents, family mem-bers of Eng. BD Rampala, engineers of Sri Railways and general membership of the IESL.

The memorial oration for this year was delivered by Eng. M.J.D. Fernando, Gen-eral Manager, Sri Lanka Railways and was on the theme “Digitalization of Sri Lanka Railways by 2022”

Eng. (Prof.) T.M. Pallewatta, President of IESL welcom-ing the audience said that

IESL commenced New Year with a celebration

IESL commenced its operations for the year 2019 – New Year – with a small function organized by staff members, with the participation of Eng. (Prof) Pallewatta, President of IESL, CEO/Executive Secretary and Deputy Secretary.

The celebration took place at the members lounge, IESL Colombo. Addressing the staff members, the president said “I want to take this opportunity to appreciate you all for your accomplishments and achievements for last year. Let’s continue to see success as we did last year. May this New Year bring happiness and joy in your life. Wish you and your families a very happy new year”.Staff members were treated for New Year delicacies and New Year greetings were shared concluding the function.

Farewell Party to IESL Staff by Immediate Past President, 2017/18

Farewell Party of the immediate past president Eng. (Prof) Mrs. Niranjanie Ratnayake was held on 14th December 2018 at members’ Lounge, IESL. All staff members of IESL joined parting of a great mentor and gentle leader. Eng. J. Meegoda and Vice President Eng. A. Manamperi

also joined this small event of felicitation.

the Late Eng B. D. Rampa-la became the first native Chief Mechanical Engineer, in 1949, of the then ‘Cey-lon Government Railways’ and went on to become the General Manager during the period 1955 - 1970, in what is now Sri Lanka Railways, and through his initiatives revolutionized the country’s railways and the way we live in. The IESL has the honour of having had Eng. B.D. Rampala as its President in the year 1958.

The commemoration was organized by the Mechanical Engineering Sectional Com-mittee for the 2018 / 2019 session of the IESL under the chairmanship of Eng. Asela Pathirathna who pro-posed the Vote-of- Thanks ending the event.

IESL Christmas Party 2018Silent night! Holy night! All is calm but IESL. Because it is Christmas time!

IESL Christmas party was held on Saturday, 15th of December 2018 wi th

delight and fun with IESL members and their families in pleasant settings of the members’ lounge of IESL. Around 150 participants were treated to a variety of fun games and the climax of the event was the arrival of Santa Claus with a bag full of presents. Though there weren’t any reindeers, surely

the children loved it.The celebration started at around 6.45 pm with the welcome speech by Eng. (Prof) T.M. Pallewatte, President of IESL. The audience was blessed by Rev. Fr. Srian Ranasinghe, Parish Priest of Fatima’s Church, Maradana.

Christmas carols were sung in both Sinhala and English to celebrate Christ-mas and prayed for good health and good fortune. The calm mood of the cel-ebration was dissolved with the games for children and competitions for adults. The event was full of en-ergy and enthusiasm. The winners of the games and competitions were gen-erously treated by Santa Claus.

The celebration conclud-ed with vote of thanks by immediate past president Eng. (Prof) Mrs. Niranjanee Ratnayake.

Contd. on page 4....

Sri Lanka Engineering News - January / February 20193IESL NEWS

Sri Lanka Engineering News

Dawn of a new year triggers us to reflect on our achievements

of the previous year and also to make resolutions for the new year. Most of the time we set personal goals such as promising to; lose weight, exercise more, consume less alcohol or quit smoking while some of us resolve to get better at our jobs, lifestyles and relationships.

However, many of us experience failure to keep our vows within few days. Therefore, this year, we need to see how to be more resolute! There are some really easy ways to set yourself on the path to success.

First of all, our resolutions must be simple and realistic. At the same time, choose them wisely. Then break your goals in to several manageable sub goals and action plans with time lines. Keep regular notes of progress and treat ourselves when worthy achievements happen along the way. We should not keep our resolutions to ourselves but let others know, so that they too can help us to start and carry on when we hit rough patches. However, we have to put ourself in charge and most importantly we should not be given up, unless we change our vision and missions. If any changes occur, you can set new resolutions and don’t need to wait until the following year.

While any of us can focus on self-improvement, as en-gineers we have a greater social responsibility to serve the profession, the people and the country. We must be resolute in that endeavor.

First set of those resolutions should be related to our work; completion of projects on time and within budget. Second focus on periodic review and recalibration of work priorities. Don’t forget to seek insights from general public that we serve and finding out what their needs are. Most important that we utilize public funds wisely. Every rupee we intend to spend on a project, program or purchase comes out of loans or hard-working taxpay-ers. Therefore, we have to investigate all approaches to reduce the cost without sacrificing the quality. We must be resolute professionals to be transparent to the society. We have to think that the public has a right to know what we’re doing, and as a servant of the people, we have an obligation to keep the people informed at all times.

As Editors of SLEN, we have set some resolutions for it in 2019 that should benefit the engineering profession, society and the country. We have already informed about some of our plans to the entire IESL membership via an e-mail. We want to make SLEN a bridge between you and the rest of the membership and vice versa. May 2019 be a wonderful year for each and every one of you and may you succeed in achieving your new year resolutions beyond your wildest dreams!

Editorial

Eng. Lalith [email protected]

Eng. N. Abesekara, CEO/ ES of IESL welcomed all the staff members and thanked the past president for her exceptional service not only to raise the standards of IESL, but also engineering profession in SL. Eng. (Prof) Mrs. Niranjanie Ratnayake addressing the staff said she was so pleased and happy to work with the staff and thanked each and every one of them for their contribution and commitment. Further, she requested the staff members to give the same support she was given during her time to the new president.All were treated for a delightful meal and warm hugs and handshakes of gratitude were shared with the parting president Eng. (Prof) Mrs. Niranjanie Ratnayake at the end of the gathering.

Farewell Party... Contd. from page 3...

TEAM BUILDING FOR WOMEN ENGINEERS

Team building event for Women Engineers organized by IESL Women Engineers’ Forum was successfully held on 10th of November 2018 at the Hotel Blue Water with the participation of 43 women engineers including past WEF Chairpersons,

senior women engineers and fresh and young women engineers. The main purpose of organizing this event is to enhance the team spirit among women engineers and improve their involvement for the various programs and social works organized by IESL while supporting and sharing their experience with each other.

Resolutions – 2019

It is not necessary to explain the role of a woman in a fam-ily as a daughter, a wife or a mother and the hardship of performing each role for the success of her family. When she is a leading professional as an engineer, her duties and responsibilities will be much more and harder than anyone can imagine. Wom-an engineer has the duties and responsibilities for both her family as well as for her career to contribute the maximum for the success of both. Hence, despite of their busy schedules, it was glad to see our members as women engineers have dedicated their precious time for this event.

Full day session was ar-ranged with many interactive team games, buffet lunch, chatting and refreshments. An interesting warm up ses-sion was conducted by Eng. Jasmin as the first event. Few interesting team games were organized for the par-ticipants to work as a team to reach their ultimate winning point. The most interactive

session of the program, the Brain Storming Session which was detained to grab new ideas, proposals and expectations of the women engineers to shape up the next session of WEF. Four groups consisted with all the participants enthusiastically engaged in the session and they presented their views very creatively to the audi-ence. Very important and timely suited views depicted by them are as follows.1. Educate Pregnant Women Engineers on how to balance work,home and children.2. Provide child care aware-ness to facilitate working women Engineers.3. Organize Community

Building Program for Women Engineers.4.Empowering the skills and capabilities in Women Engineers on howto balance work, home and children.5.Increase voice of women Engineers in the industry.6.Encourage Women En-gineers to involve more in IESL activities physically and using social media.

7.Create opportunities for networking both locally and internationally.8.Organize workshops to develop the confidence in women Engineers includ-ing soft skills.9.Make aware the industry, providing examples, to strengthen the confidence in women Engineers to reduce discrimination in recruitments.10.Encourage Women En-gineers to involve more in Decision Making.11.Motivation of Women in Engineering by organizing an event to select “Lady Engineer of the year” in categories age (experi-ence)wise, discipline wise, by evaluating professional contribution to the Engi-neering, through special projects and new technol-ogy wise etc.

As the IESL Women En-gineers’ Forum, we really appreciate and warmly wel-come all the new ideas and proposals presented by the Women Engineers and we strongly committed that we will be working hard to im-plement their ideas during the coming sessions. Final-ly, we thank all the partici-pants for making this event a great success. There is a great saying “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is prog-ress. Working together is success.” As Women En-gineers lets work together to make this world a better place for everyone.



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TITLEEarth : An introduction to physical geology

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and Eng. (Dr) Buddhika GunawardanaB.Sc (Civil Eng), PhD (Env Eng)Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, MoratuwaChartered Engineer, Member of IESL, SLAAS and IWA

by Eng. (Prof.) Mahesh Jayaweera B.Sc (Civil Eng), M.Eng(st), M.Eng, PhD (Env Eng)Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa. MoratuwaAssociate member of IESL, Secretary-SLAAS/Section C, Member of IWA

Is Aruwakkalu ... Contd. from page 1...NEW ARRIVALS IESL LIBRARY

After the collapse, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and De-velopment Corporation (SLL-RDC), with the mediation of the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development (MMWD), has commenced a composting processing site at Kerawalapitiya with a capacity of around 500 metric tons where compost pro-duced by the biodegradable component (e.g., food waste) is sold with the brand name of Mihijaya to farmers. How-ever, the non-biodegradable components (e.g., plastics, polythene and polymer) lies by the side of the compost plant until a permanent solu-tion is arrived at. In the mean time, there had been many attempts made by various authorities to come up with a lasting solution for this pressing issue of Colombo garbage. As a result, three waste-to-energy projects, each of which has a maxi-mum of 10 MW, have been awarded to consortia as pri-vate-public partnership proj-ects. These waste-to-energy projects have been awarded based on an agreement of paying Rs. 36.10 per kWh of power generation of which the Ceylon Electricity Board agrees to pay Rs. 23.10 per kWh, while the balance Rs. 13.00 per kWh needs to be paid by the Treasury of Min-istry of Finance. This gesture requires approximately Rs. 936 million of the Treasury money to be allocated (at a rate of Rs. 13.00 per kWh) from the annual budget for

each project handling about 600 metric tons per day to resolve the Colombo gar-bage problem none of these waste-to-energy projects ma-terializes as of today. Hence, Colombo has had a grim hope of resolving so-called garbage problem.

In parallel to the waste-to-en-ergy projects, MMWD has, with the aim of resolving the Colombo garbage menace, initiated, the Aruwakkalu san-itary landfill project in 2017. This project involves the development of limestone quarries already mined in Aruwakkalu, Puttalam into a sanitary landfill for disposal of MSW generated in the Metro Colombo region (about 1,200 metric tons per day) for at least 15 years. This project includes a waste transfer sta-tion at Kelaniya with vehic-ular transport, rail transport from Kelaniya to Aruwakkalu transfer station, vehicular transport from Aruwakkalu transfer station to the landfill site, and operation of a san-itary landfill at Aruwakkalu. The site at Aruwakkalu has been found in the open pits of limestone mines where ex-cavations have been carried out about 20 years ago and later partly backfilled with soil and rehabilitated by planting of trees endemic to the area. The MMWD has identified an extent of nearly 25 acres in Kelaniya to be the transfer station from which garbage be transported by the rail to Aruwakkalu. The waste col-lected at the Kelaniya trans-fer station is transferred to 20-ft sealed containers with necessary compaction and is transported to Aruwakkalu by two specially made trains each day, using the existing railway lines from Kelaniya to Aruwakkalu via Puttalam. These waste containers are unloaded at the Aruwakkalu transfer station and carried by vehicles to the sanitary landfill site.

M/S Dohwa Engineering Company (Ltd) of the Repub-lic of Korea and the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) have been selected to be the Consul-tants to the project while M/S China Harbour Engineering Pvt. Ltd. has been the Main Contractor for the project. The operation of Aruwakkalu landfill is expected to com-mence by early 2019 with the initial phase accepting the mixed waste (600 metric tons) by road transport until the infrastructure for the rail system will be in place. The other phases are expected to start off after six months of implementation of the initial phase after which full-fledged operations will be carried out.

The sanitary landfill site at Aruwakkalu is designed to accommodate a capacity of about 5,000,000 metric tons of mixed MSW for 15 years at the cost of around US$ 101 million. The landfill operation is phased out in several stages, and the final height of the landfill could be as high as 60 m from the ground level. The bottom of the landfill is placed with a sandwiched layer of differ-ent materials to curtail the leachate being mixed with groundwater. To ensure the environmental safeguards, separate systems for leach-ate and biogas collections along with treatment sys-tems have been proposed as necessary infrastructure (Figure 1). Besides, a strict environmental monitoring plan has been implemented by the authorities for quality assurance and control.

The annual operational cost of the entire project amounts to around Rs. 25 million for equipment and about Rs. 11 million for electricity. The annual main-tenance cost is around Rs. 250 million. Such costs are arrived at by the worst-sce-nario where equipment re-placement is planned in ev-ery five and ten years. The total annual O&M cost is, therefore, around Rs. 286 million, which is compara-tively cheap when looking at all the other alternatives (for example, waste-to-en-ergy plant handling 1,200 metric tons per day needs an annual payment by the government around Rs. 1,920 million). The unit cost to cover the capital and O&M cost per metric ton of landfill operations at Aruwakkalu will be approx-imately Rs. 3,000.

It is envisaged that the most economical and ap-propriate scientific meth-od of proper disposal of Colombo garbage would be the sanitary landfill at Aruwakkalu though it is located approximately 170 km away from Colombo. The intangible cost to be incurred by the Sri Lankan government for improper disposal of garbage be-comes incredibly high, and with the implementation of this project, such costs would be marginal. Thus, the implementation of the Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill project is very timely and worthy. Once the project is implemented, people of Colombo and suburbs could be relieved of a lasting menace faced over several decades.

March of Progress towards Sustainability by Eng. Suran Fernando

The ‘Age of Anthropo-cene’or the ‘Age of Hu-mans’ is an era of the oc-currence of an unprece-dented impact of human activities on the green planet. The agrarian so-ciety was transformed to an industrial society when fossil fuels take up the role of the prime energy source in this human driven era. The most recognized An-thropocene started with be-ginning of industrial revolu-tion (1780s-1830s). Even though this was a time of economic growth and de-velopment, this revolution impacted the environment in adverse ways. While manyleapfrog technologi-cal advancements were ex-perienced by the mankind within this era, the world saw a major increase in population. This increase itself led to environmental changes simply because, there were more people consuming more natural resources.

The Great Acceleration

“This first stage of the An-thropocene ended abrupt-ly around 1945, when the most rapid and pervasive shift in the human-envi-ronment relationship be-gan.”- Will Steffen, Paul J. Crutzen and John R. McNeill.

The second half of the 20th century is quite ex-ceptional in the history of human existence. With the ending of the World War - II, human activities were drastically changed the prevailing environ-ment. The use of natural resources was increased at an increased rate. The requirement of power and energy were rapidly in-creasing. Explosion of glo-balization of world econ-omy, communication and transportation were the key factors for industrial development.

World population has sur-passed 7 billion in 2011 and are on track to hit 9

The age of Anthropocene

billion by 2040. World eco-nomic output passed the $125 trillion mark in 2017. The economic and popula-tion growth has come at a cost, impact to the planet earth.

From the anthropogenic epoch to the present, people have been forgetting the im-portance of environment and it is being heavily misused and mismanaged. Environ-ment is getting polluted day by day.

As automatic response to the rapid man-made chang-es in the planet, the eco system too showed some rapid changes in its behavior which have been depicted by the exponential shifts in many key environmental indicators. This includes the change in water cycle, warming the atmosphere, melting the glaziers, air pol-lution, increase in acidity in oceans, extinction of species etc. Those changes are

Source: www.igbp.net

Contd. on page 12...

Eng. Suran Fernando is a Chartered Building Services Engineer. He is a Green Building Consultant and a Maintenance Engineer by profession. Currently he is serving as the Chairman of Building Services Sectional Committee of IESL, a Council Member of IESL and the Sub Editor of IESL Newsletter.

Sustainable Development –‘the’ alternative!

Since the beginning of mankind, both humans & nature had an enduring mutual relationship. About a century ago man opened a new geological era where he himself stated to change the nature on his own will. Though the technological advancements resulted substantial economic growth and social development, its impact on the environment was adverse. Especially over the past seventy years or so, humans have changed the

ecosystems rapidly & extensively than in any comparable period in history for the sake of the development. The earth is gradually reaching the day that mankind could not afford to go on ‘business as usual’ anymore with respect to its environment. The delib-erate large-scale manipulation of the environment has the risk of serious unintended side effects.The past development caused the three key elements of the human environment (nature, economy & society) to move apart. The resolution of the resultant issues can be achieved if those three elements can be brought back as close as possible. This will automatically yield economic, social and environmental benefits.

The development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs is called the SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

essentially unhealthy impli-cations that will challenge the smooth existence of the mankind.

No wonder the adverse unprecedented effects of such changes in global context are readily reflect-ed in the Sri Lankan situ-ation too where the social and climatic patterns were depicted rapid negative changes within several decades.


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country reach a higher state of development; how the present day engineers are moving the country forward on the path of rapid de-velopment; and our proud engineering heritage of sus-tainable engineering prac-tices that could be applied for the futuristic vision of a technologically advanced Sri Lanka.

The Chief Guest, Hon. Kabir Hashim, in his address at the event, conveyed that the Government of Sri Lanka has identified that develop-ment in the rural infrastruc-ture is a firm step towards socio-economic develop-ment, for which continued contribution and commit-ment of the engineers are paramount,and their efforts should guide the country’s thrust towards the realiza-tion of sustainable develop-ment goals.

The appropriately themed conference was designed to nurture informed debate and disseminate a range of views and ideas and pro-vided rare insights into the thoughts and experiences of six eminent personal-ities, who represented a cross-section of engineering disciplines. The conference was an ideal forum to relook at our past engineering heritage, review the current practices and highlight the lessons to be learnt to shape the futuristic vision for Sri Lanka. The outcomes of the discussions that ensued are summarized below.• There is a necessity to analyze the current policy di-rection and the state of crit-ical infrastructure required to propel diversification of the nation’s economy. Such infrastructure should prom-inently include priority areas such as the ICTsector and the energy sector.• Sri Lanka needs to find an optimal energy mix of the future in which electric vehi-cles, smart grids, hydrogen as a fuel, nuclear energy along with other more tradi-

Outcomes of the...tional energy sources, high quality commercial energy and consumer supplying en-ergy (prousers) are in focus. • Priority should be given to characterize the compara-tive advantages of the vari-ous natural resources of the nation and draw strategies on how to leverage them to enhance the performance of the nation’s production sector. One area that was highlighted is the utiliza-tion of mineral resources of the country to propel the local manufacturing and pro-duction sectors rather than exporting such resources with minimal value addition. Derivation of nano-materials and its contribution potential to the national development is substantial and should be looked into as a matter of priority. • Formulation of strategies is needed to revive local manufacturing industries for import substitution and export promotion in areas of competitive advantage. Mineral and metallurgical industries were highlighted. In addition, there is a need to review the challenges that retard the local production capabilities and strategize how to support import substi-tution and export promotion of goods and services.• There is an urgent need to develop a human and institu-tional capacity development plan to drive the ICT and telecommunication sector diversification and make Sri Lanka competitive in such fields. This also should focus on the design integrated and coordinated approaches that would stimulate syn-ergies between different sectors and collaboration at national, regional, and local Government levels to ensure sustainable growth of economies.Demand -driven solutions should be sought at all levels, and it has to be noted that innovations will maximize opportunities for all. Benefits that remote and rural areas can derive by effective utilization of ICT

and other modern technol-ogies have to be exploited without further delay.• The engineering frater-nity should take the lead in providing a forum for expert discussions focus-ing on technological policy outcomes; they should also focus on engaging the wid-erstakeholder participation through the dissemination-of informed ideas.

The indispensability of quality and reliable ICT infrastructure for sustain-able economic diversifica-tion was highlighted.ICT has widely been perceived as a catalyst for develop-ment. However, much of the public sector organi-zations (most prominent are the engineer-led orga-nizations) remain largely underutilizing the potential benefits of modern tech-nology: AI, IoT, networking, etc. Lack of initiative on the part of engineers and inconsistent and lesser concerns on customer care and levels of service were highlighted. The urgent need for the IESL to: (i) form working group for developing IT enabling services at each organi-zation, and (ii) to prepare IESL’s roadmap to enable ITservices at such organi-zationswere highlighted. It was proposed for IESL to take the lead in conducting seminars, public lectures, etc., to sensitizeall those who work for these organi-zations. Such events can be held regularly rather than one annual event. The IESL should then plan to derive a few focal ideas out of workshops/semi-nars, for implementation by the IESL, its sectional committees, and provin-cial chapters. The working groups of the IESL should make sure that the ideas are implemented by way of lobbying, communicating, assisting the organizations to draft the regulations, standards and procedures, concept papers, etc.

There were short speeches by three senior engineers who were graduates of the faculty followed by a Q&A session moderated by Eng. Arjuna Manamperi, Vice President of IESL.

Eng. Manamperi giving the opening speech elaborated the importance of the role of IESL with the newly formed Engineering Council of Sri Lanka. He went on to say how an undergraduate of a state university should bear the responsibility towards building the nation and further emphasized upon graduation, the young engineers should always chal lenge the kind of impact towards the country by him/her.

Eng. Sarath Gamini, Project Director National Water Supply & Drainage Board briefed how an Engineer can get into a company by developing soft skills and proper communication abilities. He elaborated that an interviewee should always be transparent and truthful since the objective of the company is to hire right individuals rather than the knowledge.

Eng. Lalith Pallegama, Council Member of the IESL shared how he began his journey as an entrepreneur a n d p r o v i d e d s o m e useful tips on developing one’s own company with sheer dedication using the knowledge acquired during higher education. He further illustrated how an entrepreneur should serve the country engaging in Communi ty Soc ia l Responsibility activities.

Subsequent to the speeches, students engaged in the Q&A session with great passion. Eng. (Prof.) Ranjith Dissanayake answering few questions highlighted that the undergraduates should strive to engage with the rest of the university community with multiple disciplines, participate in student associations to connect with each other and should give a good return to the public whose tax money is invested for their free education. Answering a question raised, Eng. (Prof.) Pallewatta, emphasized not to overly worry about GPA but engage in extracurricular activities and other university programs to become a person who could make others feel his/her existence. E n g . W W R P i t a w a l a , Chairman IESL Kandurata Chapter also added some useful thoughts and Eng. Prof. SBS Abeykoon, IESL President-Elect highlighted the importance of spending the undergraduate life in the university fully utilizing the available resources and opportunities. Eng. Chamil Edirimuni, Chairman of IESL Young Members Section elaborated the gains of being a student member of IESL. Concluding the Q&A session, University Liaison officer, Mr. S.M. Dissanayake spoke about the importance of the event and the students’ chapter chairman Mr. Imanthaka Yanendra who anchored the organizing of a very successful event made the vote of thanks.

Young Members Section Committee of IESL


About 500 number of Students flocked to the EOE Pereira Memorial Theatre

'IGNITE 2019'...

WRITE TO SLENBe creative! Bring out the writer in you!Have an interesting story to tell? An idea to express? A question to ask, or a comment to make?

Start writing now!The Editor of the Sri Lanka Engineering News (SLEN) newsletter of the IESL invites articles of technical, managerial, artistic or any other nature, even campus humour from you, our engineers-to-be. Write a true story of a project, a book review, a policy paper, a poem, or whatever you think will interest your clan.Send your draft materials (around 800 words) to; The Editor, Sri Lanka Engineering News, E-mail: [email protected]

Editor – ‘Sri Lanka Engineering News’


My mother, Joyce Pallewatta, a Teacher supported and guided me as all good mothers do. Also, I had and still have the rare privilege to be blessed with Aunts and Uncles who consider me as their own child. I am very happy that two of them, my aunt Shanthi and Uncle Siri are here in the audience today. I will not forget my grand parents and numerous relatives who made me what I am.For twenty years during which I have been serving the Council of IESL, my wife Darshini and three children Pandula, Dasuni and Rasandi tolerated my limited attention to their needs, late night arrivals at home and absence during weekends, to mention a few. I hope this end could justify their sacrifices.From my schooling days at Hena Road Junior School, Mt. Lavinia and then Royal College, Colombo 07, going into university education at University of Moratuwa, postgraduate studies at Asian Institute of Technology and University of Tokyo, I was taught, directed and guided by most able and compassionate teachers, without whom I would not have been able to acquire the knowledge and skills to be an able Engineer.In the field, senior Engineers and other technical staff shared their practical knowledge with me to make me a complete Engineer.It is my family, teachers, fellow Engineers and close friends, especially Upulwansa Rathnayaka and Ajith Dolage who enabled me to be of service to my chosen profession of Engineering and advance in life. I am eternally grateful to all of them.In brief I would like to place before you what I plan to do during my tenure as the President of The IESL.I believe that once deliberated and decided, policies of a Nation, Corporate Body or an Individual should continue intact irrespective of transient changes in the environment. In line with this belief I wish to continue propagating along the thrust areas of my predecessor, especially as they are generic in nature and progressive for our profession. They are;

1. Preparing IESL for the implementation of the Engineering Council Act In line with the Engineering Council, Sri Lanka Act No. 4 of 2017, passed by the Parliament and in Gazetted in 2017 March, IESL Council has nominated 07 Chartered Engineers for the Engineering Council and one of them had been appointed as the Chairman by the Minister. IESL will be working in close collaboration with the newly appointed Engineering Council for formulation of Regulations and Rules governing the practice of Engineering Profession in Sri Lanka.

2. Development of Engineering Education up to International StandardsBeing a member of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA), Signatory to the Washington Accord on educational standards for Engineers and Provisional Signatory to the Sydney Accord on educational standards for Engineering Technologists, the IESL is the internationally accepted professional body for Recognition and Accreditation of engineering education. Also, being cognizant of high knowledge and intellectual levels required to follow Engineering degree programmes, IESL will benchmark entry qualifications and levels of proficiency required to follow these programmes.

3. Branding the C. Eng. as a Valuable qualificationHistorically, Charter is a license granted by the ruler of a country for the practice of a profession. In the context of today a Charter affords a certain authority and Bona fide for a professional for the practice in a certain jurisdiction. In this context we will further propagate the value and the responsibility of a Chartered Engineer based on the works imparted to the public.

4. Engineers as Policy MakersThe right amount of assertiveness, confidence and competence is needed for Engineers who are supposed to be highly developed in the analytical left lobe of the brain, to venture into the realm of national policy-making. Since research has shown that left brain development does not happen in isolation without accruing some benefits to the right brain controlling artistic and social skills, Engineers do not need to labour too much to excel in these. IESL will provide this ‘last mile’ push for our Engineers through CPD and other social skill building activities.

5. Improved Service to all StakeholdersFor the public and our members, IESL is the secretariat. The public image, efficiency and the friendliness of the secretariat portrayed through its staff will decide the success of our endeavour, namely the IESL. With the new MIS to be introduced shortly and especially with the sincere and passionate support of all the staff of the secretariat, we should be able to forge ahead reaching new heights.To do all these things I will need the unstinted support of our membership, the Council, Past Presidents and more than ever the fullest cooperation of the Secretariat. I am sure I will get this to be of continuing service to further uplift our beloved profession of Engineering and to make our motherland a cradle of sustained comfort for us as well as future generations of our sons and daughters.May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you!Theruwan Saranai

Contd. on page 12....

Contd. from page 1...President’s Corner.....Towards a Viable Solution for Improving the Road Safety Situation in Sri Lankaby Eng. J. M. Chandradasa

The institution of Engineers Sri Lanka(IESL) at its first meeting of the Professional Affairs Committee for the year 2017/2018 decided to take up the above matter with a view to reducing the Road Accidents in Sri Lanka.

Being a partner of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2011 - 2020, Sri Lanka has an obligation to fulfill the recommendations of WHO at least from 2018 to 2020.

The Present CrisisThere is an alarming in-crease in fatal road ac-cidents and deaths in Sri Lanka as indicated in the following table. (Population statistics are obtained from the Annual Report 2017 of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Accident statistics are from the Traf-fic Police).

The number of deaths per100 000 population per year has risen to about 15 in 2017 from 13 in 2011. This figure for a country like Sri Lanka shall be less than 10. The category of persons died in 2016 and 2017 are as follows.

IV. Laws shall be strictly enforced.V. Motorcyclist and pillion riders are a source of great danger. Diverting attention of others by getting them to wear high visibility clothing and to compelling them to ride with their headlights on during the day shall be implemented. Establishing special Motor cycle Training Institutions is also essential. VI. Establishing road safety education from Pre-school VII. Special attention on road safety on Expressways. VIII. Adopting novel meth-ods such as alcohol ignition interlocks, mandatory prison sentence for drunk driving, a minimum drinking age set at 21 years, low beam head-lights and getting insurers’ to pay for any damages in a crash, regardless of which party was considered at fault. IX. Introducing an effective vehicle inspection program. Brakes, Tyres and axle loads shall we strictly checked, introducing regulations to take unroadworthy vehicles off the roads.X. Implementation of the recommendations given in the Final Report of the select committee of Parliament to look in to the Alarming In-crease in Traffic Accidents dated 12th December 2014. (59 pages)

Final Report of the Select Committee of Parliament to look into the alarming increase in Accidents dat-ed 12 December 2014.

The above Report has been published as an interim report on 12th December 2014, as Parliament Publi-cation No. 351. If the Way Forward given in that report had been followed, we would have been living in a different Sri Lanka from 2016 onwards. Three years and 9 months have been elapsed by September 2018 with little Action. The country is losing approxi-mately Rs. 200 Bn per year. Besides the country is also losing another Rs 200 Bn per year due to alarming rate of Traffic Congestion owing to uncontrolled import of motor vehicles.The committee comprised of twenty three (23) members of parliament representing all parties. One has become

Year Mid Year Population

(Mn)

Vehicle Population

(Mn)

No of fatal

accidents

No. of deaths

2016 21.203 6.80 2837 30172017 21.444 7.25 2933 3111

Cost of Road AccidentsNormally, the cost of Road Accidents is calculated at about 1 to 1.5% of the Gross National Products (GNP). For Sri Lanka, with a US $ 87 billion GNP, it is around Rs. 200 billion per annum. This cost makes demands on resources which are already severely limited.

Indirect restrictive effect on the Development of the Country is also a matter for concern. Some people with specialized abilities, who are difficult to replace, are often exposed to high accident risks.

A quarter (1/4 ) of the Na-tional Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) budget is spent on Road Accident victims.

Present Actors imple-menting Road Safety in Sri Lanka. National Council for Road Safety (NCRS) has been established as the Apex

2016 20171. Motor Cyclists / Pillion Riders - 1155 12532. Pedestrians - 883 8273. Drivers - 255 2964. Passengers - 476 4405. Cyclists - 246 2856. Others - 2 10

Total 3017 3111

body. Its involvement in road safety measures is grossly inadequate due to various reasons.

Enforcement by police offi-cers is at a lawebb. There should be a co-ordinated effort by Government Insti-tutions such as Road and local authorities, Media, Cit-izens, Universities,Schools, Insurance agenecies and NGOs.

Strategies for a safer Road environment.

I. Upholding and ensuring safety in mobility should be a facet of good government. It should receive a much higher state priority in the political agenda.

There is an urgent and pressing need for closer co-ordination and collabo-ration using a holistic ap-proach among all stakehold-ers in traffic and highway management in dealing with the task. For the effective implementation of such an action plan a stronger polit-ical will and a higher order commitment by the state is required. Eg: a) In France when President Chirac made Road Safety a key political priority in 2002 road deaths in France Dropped by 20% in 2003.b) State policies adopt-ed in Sri Lanka in mid 1990s brought about a drastic drop in road accidents. II. Every accident shall be reported to the Police and the practice of settling dam-age only accidents through insurance shall be stopped. III. Safer modes of public transport, such as buses and rail, shall be increased.



Earth Overshoot Day (or Ecological Debt Day - EDD), is the estimated illustrative calendar date on which resource consump-tion of humankind for the year exceeds earth’s ca-pacity to regenerate those resources that year. For the rest of the year, we are maintaining our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks that is owned by our posterity. In fact, what we are now doing is, just using the resources that would have been untouched and safely reserved for the unborn generations.

Way Forward - Survival of Mankind

Human nation seriously needs a way out from the disastrous continuation of the series of its own ill actions that manipulated the nature unfavorably. It is well understood through the concept of earth over-shoot day. If the human world continued to go on ‘business as usual’ the rate of consumption of resources will be twice as of the rate of generation of resources by 2030. This simply means we need two worlds of resources in another twelve years!We can comfortably afford to have a cunning blind eye on our own over utili-zation of earth resources only because the unborn generation cannot point the finger to us and claim their ownership. This situ-ation demands an immedi-ate change. Extraordinary times calls for extraordi-nary measures. Its high time for us to have a wise pause & think about going for a radical change.

The key challenge is to ensure the progress is inclusive and environmen-tally sustainable. In order to constraint the existence of mankind within safe operating limits the only al-ternative is SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

March of Progress towards....

Earth Overshoot Day (EOD)

Source:https://www.overshootday.org

Contd. from page 11....Towards a Viable.....the President of Sri Lanka. Many others are continuing, some holding important portfolios.

As a professional body the IESL needs to seriously take action with other professionals to arrest this situation. There is no point in going behind so called Hon. Sirs and Madams any further. Our utmost duty is to lead the general public in correct course, as the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary has miserably failed over the last seventy (70) years since Independence in 1948.

The need of the hour for leaders of political parties is to give opportunities for the professionals to come into the parliament through the National List, and appoint them to key portfolios relevant to their field of expertise . Sri Lankan Cabinet needs only 16 ministers (according to OPA) and al least 50% of them shall be professionals. It is highly unlikely that these would happen.

The best course of action under these circumstances is to make way for a new leader to emerge. There is no point in discussing the Way Forward given in the Select Commit-tee Report as country is doomed to go from bad to worse. Sri Lanka is a good example of an ill – governed country.

As a professional body the IESL need to seriously take action with other professionals to arrest this situation, and to lead the public incorrect course by involving at com-munity level represented by Gramasewaka (GS) divisions totaling around 14,000.

Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development is the ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need’. – General Assembly of UN, 1987, p. 43.

It’s the mean doctrine that ensures the long-standing

development of the human world. In other words, it’s a balancing act that offer the due honour to the limits as the mankind continues to improve its well-being.

The balance between the three pillars, namely the eco-nomic development, social development and environ-mental protection is the key of achieving sustainability. As there is an interdepen-dency between the three pillars of sustainability, none of those can exist without the others in the long run.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Since sustainability is a call of action, in order to implement it effectively in the global context a political process is needed. To do this some set out common goals and values are to be established and following up to be carryout.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (or Global Goals for Sustainable De-velopment) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which has been set demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal agenda towards a greener plant with social and economic prosperity.

The below is the Sri Lan-ka’s official website to pur-

sue how the country will progress with the SDGs. This is maintained by the Department of Census and Statistics.

The potential of the engi-neering community to lead the world towards sustain-ability is immense. Thus, being one of the key con-tributors to the develop-ment of the mankind and in the meantime being key accountable parties to the resultant destruction to the eco system too, engineers have a great responsibility to lead the nations towards a long lasting sustainable development. It’s our duty today!

References:

• http://www.igbp.net/

• http://www.anthropocene. info/

• http://theglobalfool.com/the-great-acceleration-2/

• http://www.futureearth. org/blog/2015-jan-16/great-acceleration• https://reliefweb.int/map/sri-lanka/sri-lanka-flood-and-landslides-impact-comparison-between-2016-and-2017

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12199-014-0395-5.

• http://www.world-bank.org/en/news/feature/2017/03/02/part1-understanding-pov-erty-sri-lanka.

• https://leads.lk/index.php/what-we-do-3/38-drought-nation-suffering-from-effects-of-climate-changehttps://www.overshootday. org/.

• https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/public-events/archiv/alter-net/for-mer-ss/2007/05-09.2007/steffen/literature/ambi-36-08-06_614_621.pdf.

• https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-develop-ment-goals/.

• https://sustainabledevel-opment. un.org/

• http://www.statistics. gov.lk/sdg/index.php/sdg/page/home

Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) Since sustainability is a call of action, in order to implement it effectively in the global context a political process is needed. To do this some set out common goals and values are to be established and following up to be carryout.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (or Global Goals for Sustainable Development) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which has been set demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal agenda towards a greener plant with social and economic prosperity.

Read More on >> https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/


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