Innovative
Malaysia Welcomes WTC 2020 World Tunnel Congress 2020 to be held from
15 to 21 May 2020 in Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur (MY),
16 January 2020. Malaysia has emerged as one of the most innovative
tunnelling countries in the last decade having won at least three
major global tunnelling innovation awards. This coming May, seize the
chance to visit the unique country and meet other progressive
Malaysian engineers on the very prestigious occasion of the World
Tunnel Congress, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from 15 to 21 May
2020. “To maximise participation across Southeast Asia, we have
extended the early bird registration closing date until 31 January
2020”, ITA-AITES WTC 2020 Organising Chairman Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun
announces at a recent press conference held in Kuala Lumpur. More
than 2,000 participants are expected to join in the greatest annual
meeting of tunnelling and underground space engineers and companies
from all walks of the vibrant industry. Exhibition spaces are now
fully booked and more than 150 companies from all over the world are
ready to welcome all tunnellers.
The world‘s
greatest meeting of tunnellers, the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress
(WTC) and the 46 th ITA General Assembly 2020, will be organised by
the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) in Kuala Lumpur. Set in
the heart of Southeast Asia, Malaysia has been undertaking tunnelling
challenges for the past two decades and along the way has developed
many groundbreaking tunnelling technology. Beginning with South East
Asia ́s longest stormwater drainage tunnel - the 9.7 km two-storey
stormwater management and road tunnel in 2007, the first metro
construction in Malaysia followed in 2011. To tackle the arduous
challenge of mining in Kuala Lumpur ́s karstic limestone ground, the
variable density tunnel boring machine was developed by Malaysian
engineers and became an industry marvel with the successful delivery
of the Klang Valley MRT Line 1 in 2013. The innovation won the
Technical Innovation of the Year award in ITA 2014. The next in
Malaysian tunnelling offerings is the autonomous TBM operating system
which won the ITA award for Technical Product/Equipment Innovation
2019 as well as NCE Tunnelling Festival 2019’s “Innovation in
Tunnel Excavation” award. Hence, it is only apt that Malaysia being
home to many prestigious global tunnelling awards will offer the
ultimate platform for technical insights on cutting-edge tunnelling
innovation and advances in underground construction.
The WTC will kick
start on Friday and Saturday, 15 and 16 May 2020, with the first
ITACET training course “Innovations in Tunnelling - Geotechnical
Engineering and Project Management “to welcome young tunnellers and
those interested in tunnelling and underground space developments.
Highly recognized and prominent tunnelling experts from all over the
world will be sharing their experiences with the audience. These
include Muir Wood ‘s Lecture, a landmark lecture and three more
keynote lectures from respective field experts and more than
fifteentechnical oral presentation sessions and poster displays will
be given to provide deep insight into different fields of tunnelling
and underground space developments.” This will not only be a chance
to learn from the best, but also offer ample of time for participants
to join in various discussions and networking sessions with
industry-recognised experts “, Dr Ooi adds on the event highlights.
The opening ceremony
is expected to be officiated by the world’s only nonagenarian prime
minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on 18 May 2020, Monday morning.
One of the highlights, besides exclusive keynote lectures is the Muir
Wood lecture by one of the most recognized specialists for sprayed
concrete, Tom Melbye. His talk is titled "Wet-mix Sprayed
Concrete: A Modern Support Method in Tunnelling and Mining “and
will give insights into the development
of the
aforementioned ingenuous tunnelling support method.
The exhibition at
Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) which will showcase more than
150 companies will also kick-off on Monday morning. Technical
dialogues in open sessions, presentations, working group committee
meetings and countless networking sessions with fellow participants,
exhibitors and business partners will make up the bulk of the days
until the closing ceremony on Wednesday late afternoon as the grand
finale of the WTC 2020 event, followed by the handover of the ITA
flag to the next host country, Denmark, for the WTC 2021.
Various site and
technical visits will be held during and after the congress with
limited seats available. These include the SMART Tunnel (Monday, 18
May 2020), Tunnelling Training Academy (Tuesday, 19 May 2020) and
Underground works at the KVMRT Line 2 construction sites (Wednesday,
20 May 2020) which serve to enumerate Malaysia ́s outstanding
achievements in tunnel engineering and projects which no engineer
should miss. All site and technical visits, as well as short
excursions, will start and end at KLCC. On 21 May 2020 (Thursday), a
limited number of participants will even have a chance to join a
technical visit to either the ongoing East Coast Rail Link project or
the completed Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Tunnel.
Several sightseeing
programmes are also available for interested persons to join in and
explore the beauty of Malaysia as well as Kuala Lumpur, before or
after the congress. WTC 2020 in Kuala Lumpur falls during the month
of Ramadan, which is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. With
that effect, participants will get the opportunity to experience the
uniqueness of “buka puasa“ (breaking of fast) in KLCC itself. The
WTC 2020 programme offers a vibrant mix of business, professional and
leisure opportunities for all and is designed to leave a lasting
memory for all participants.
Further details
available at the official homepage
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