By December our climate turns cold and it is the end of the year too. Then it turns to a little bit lazy vacation period for the people who finding more and more relaxation. They begin to move away from their regular lifestyle and pay more attention to seasonal activities.

The members of CESC, while celebrating this festival period, are not ready to switch off their responsibilities to their Institution. Our services, arrangements and activities are being carrying out as per the schedule by our keen members while enjoying the season.

Our Committee of Public Lectures, Seminars and Workshops organized a public lecture titled “PORT CITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AND IT’S IMPACT” which was held on the 2nd of December and delivered by Eng. Dr. G. P. Karunarathne. In this lecture Dr. Karunarathne discussed the impacts of above project with details from relevant research. He described in good detail, the effects of the possible rising of the ground water level in suburban areas and its implications infrastructure, structural foundations etc. Journalists from several national newspapers were also brisk to write about these newly found impacts based on this lecture.

CESC then arranged a technical session on “THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE EFFICIENCY OF FRP SYSTEMS IN STRENGTHHENING CONCTRETE BRIDGES AND BUILDINGS” with Dr Riadh Al-Mahaidi. It helped both our practicing engineers and members of the public think about new technologies beyond the traditional methods of construction.

Again SCPLSW arranged another important workshop in December .It was titled “DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ASPECTS OF UMA OYA MULTIPURPOSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT” which was held on December 12th at the IESL seminar room. Participation at this workshop was very high, possibly since it is an issue of National concern. Here, we were presented key information about design and construction of above project. Especially regarding the ground water leakage into the tunnel and its further consequences, remedies etc. It was a forum where we were exposed to the ideas of experts who were directly involved in the UMA OYA project from its inception. Our Engineers are now armed with the necessary information to give their own professional opinion on the impacts and opinions of this project.

Meanwhile CESC members planned a field trip to visit an ancient city to study our Engineering heritage. It was planned to visit JETHAWANA STHUPA in Anuradhapura, to study its structural behavior and the construction methodology behind it. In addition, plans are underway to visit SIGIRIYA, in order to study its ancient irrigation system. We hope these field trips will be useful for our civil engineers for green constructions in future. Additionally, field trips to visit LOTUS TOWER and ALTAIR PROJECT have been proposed in order to study the modern technologies behind them.

This year our annual get together will be held at Mee Mure, a self- sufficient, serene and naturally colorful village in kanda udarata. This time our SCAG team are planning to organize our get together at a camp site with a camp fire as well. Therefore we invite all civil engineers to join us, and enjoy two days in a true Sri Lankan village setting.

Another important event is the Building Clinic. Our SCBC committee have planned to hold it in kagalle this year. It will be arranged with some differences this year, aimed at gathering higher number of participants from the general public. They are looking at different methods of gaining publicity. Providing engineering knowledge and solutions to people via attractive teaching procedures. The event will likely include seminars, short documentaries, models of common problems in houses etc.

Our research for this year is centered around cement and concrete, Dr. Eng. Thushara Priyadarshane is very keen about the tropic and has given his fullest corporation to carry out the research. All the lab facilities will be provided within our national universities and in partnership the NBRO free of charge .All the financial factors and supervision will be done by RDSC. Members who are to carry out the research will be offered a valuable chance to visit cement factories in India .Finally we hopes to submit our research papers to the Annual Sessions of IESL in 2018. This will be a chance for our members to gain sound knowledge on research procedures. Therefore we request participants to confirm your participation as early as possible to commence the research.

CPD programs are very useful to improve our careers. The CPD committee has proposed to introduce important areas to study for civil engineers in future. Especially they have been studying the following CPDs.

• Fundamentals of water quality, water safety
• Management and Dispute Resolution of construction contracts
• Principals of waste water collection, treatment Disposal/Reuse, storm water Drainage and Guidance on Design of wastewater treatment systems.
• Procurement management.

Here our committee members trying to make improvements and to correct omissions of CPDS in future.

CESC always look towards improving people’s lives in our society whenever possible. This year our project for the society will be held at Kudimbigala.It has a Aranya Senasanaya at kudimbigala near by Kumana national sanctuary. The monks,villagers and devotees who prepare alms giving have been facing with severe problems relating to clean water access. Our members have planned to implement a clean water project as our community project for this year. Definitely it will be a useful project to assist people in this area and invite our members to take hands with organizing committee to serve the society.

To accomplish the above activities, the CESC has filled the remaining positions of sub committees by the time of meeting held on 18-12-2017 and CESC members have been working hard with a dynamic mindset. We invite the Civil Engineering fraternity to be vigilant about our activities and try their best to collaborate with us to serve society and our professional body.

Prepared By:
Publication & Editorial Subcommittee
CESC-IESL