BAMI-I South East Work Shop
Economic expansions in many key South East Asian cities has led to significant demand for water, sewer, power, gas and communication infrastructure construction, inspection, maintenance and rehabilitation. Such demand and awareness is now driving the demand for training that will assist with developing proactive programs to effectively manage existing and new underground buried infrastructure. As a result of this demand, Dr. Iseley was invited to present on the BAMI-I Certification of Training in Asset Management (CTAM) courses. For the South East Asia workshops, Dr. Iseley was accompanied by Dr. Dan Koo, assistant professor at Indiana University Purdue University. For this trip, Dr. Dan Koo was to highlight available and proven trenchless technologies with specific attention to sewer and water rehabilitation.
BAMI-I created the CTAM program to increase awareness and train utility personnel on the best practices to implement and use asset management to extend the life and efficiency of their water underground infrastructure systems. As such, the purpose of the event was to introduce BAMI-I and to foster creative interaction between key participants of South East Asia’s underground infrastructure industry: utility owners, contractors, engineers, vendors and educators.
In Singapore, the Nanyang Center for Underground Space (NCUS) of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) organized the BAMI-I South East Asia Introduction workshop with noted support from local organization such as the Public Utility Board (PUB), Defense Science Technology Agency (DSTA) Sembcorp Industries, Perma-Liner Singapore, PASCO and (others). The successful workshop was well attended with over 60 participants from the Academia, Consulting Engineers, Contractors, Government Agencies and interested parties.
Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia was next on the itinerary and another successful introduction presentation was conducted with special graduated to the event organizer, The Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM). Again the session was well attended and ended with a dinner hosted by ACEM. Jakarta, Indonesia was the last leg of Dr. Iseley’s trip to South East Asia and the meeting there with representative from the engineering community again affirms the interest in developing a sustainable underground infrastructure that has the means to ensure its operational efficiency.
Due to the tremendous support and appreciation in South East Asia, a follow-up BAMI-I workshop is planned for next April, which will focus on providing certification in buried asset management (CTAM). This future trip will possibly include Mumbai, India as the municipalities there sees the importance to conduct the BAMI-I workshop so as to facilitate and enhance their ongoing buried asset management training and education.
The BAMI-I & TTC would like to thank Wing Chan and Sriram Ganesan, Southeast Asia program organizers for inviting Dr. Iseley and Dr. Dan Koo to participate in this opportunity for brining CTAM program to that part of the world to continue the learning process for buried asset management. This appreciation is also extended to the Nanyang Technological University, Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia and other industry supporters such as Perma-Liner, LLC (David Groth) and Cues, Inc (Stuart Rome) for their tremendous support and participation in the event.
BAMI-I looks forward to continuing its mission of creative collaboration and support of the underground infrastructure industry in South East Asia and other parts of Asia by developing future workshops and programs in the years to come. With more collaboration with local universities and support of industry partners, the innovation, validation and education required to meet the needs for water underground infrastructure in Asia will result.
