IAC News

Japan Society of Civil Engineers  International Activities Center May 1, 2014 IAC News No.19 

 

IAC Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.1

 

IAC Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.1

IAC held IAC Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.1 “Cross-Bosphorus Strait Rail Link Construction Project” on at the JSCEHQ Auditorium on April 3.

 This Symposium focused on the present situation of which large-scale overseas projects by Japanese construction firms have garnered praise not only in the countries at the sites but also widely in the world, and introducing the achievements that Japanese civil engineering technology and Japanese civil engineers have made, as well as providing information on the importance of infrastructure development and international jobs to young people who will play important roles in Japan’s future.

The Symposium started with the opening speech by Mr. Hashimoto, JSCE President. In the first half of the symposium, Presentations, including which Mr. Nobuaki TANAKA, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey discussed friendly relations between Japan and Turkey where the aforesaid projects was conducted, about Japan and Turkey relations and infrastructure development in overseas were delivered.

In the latter half of it, 6 civil engineers including Mr. Hidemi OMI, Taisei Corporation who was involved in the project provided an overview of the project and discussed their experiences and episodes in its construction. The last presentation was made by Mr. Motoi KANDA, as a representative of young engineers who involved in the project. He presented his experiences and challenges in the project and gave advice to young engineers for their success in future.

This Symposium also had a DVD screening and a panel display of the project. More than 150 people participated in the symposium.
IAC will continue to plan the symposium series on overseas projects.

Mr. Tanaka talks to the audience.

Mr. OMI delivers a speech.

Seminar on Japan-Indonesia Civil Engineering Technology hosted by IAC Indonesia Group

IAC Indonesia Group held “Seminar on Japan-Indonesia Civil Engineering Technology” on March 12, 2014. Indonesia and Japanese civil engineering experts discussed their views on infrastructure development projects in Indonesia.  The auditorium of JSCE HQ was full with approximately 100 professionals from public agencies, construction and consulting firms, and extra chairs were brought in to accommodate the audience.

≪The seminar-in-brief≫
・Date:  March 12, 2014, 15:00~18:00
・Venue: JSCE HQ Auditorium
・Emcee: Dr. Shinri Sone, IAC Indonesia Group Leader
＜Program＞
・Opening remarks by Mr. Kotaro Hashimoto, JSCE President
・Presentation 1: “Infrastructure Development in Indonesia” by Dr. Ir. Achmad Hermanto Dardak, Vice Minister of Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia, PII-BKS President
・Presentation 2: “Integration of Infrastructure and Urban Development” by Prof. Haruo Ishida, Tsukuba University
・Presentation 3: “The Sunda Strait Project and Development Infrastructure Areas” by Mr. Herry Vasa, Director of Institute of Road Engineering, Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia
・Presentation 4: “Attractiveness and Possibility of Indonesia: From Japan and Indonesia Joint Research” by Mr. Toshio Sakai, Director-General, National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

１．Opening remarks by Mr. Hashimoto
The two countries Indonesia and Japan have common challenges such as active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Also because of being made up of multiple islands, both need to link those islands with long-span bridges to unite them into one country.
It is useful and beneficial for the civil engineers of two countries to cooperate with each other to deal with those challenges. This seminar provides Japanese and Indonesia civil engineers with the opportunity to work together to discuss infrastructure development of the fast-growing economy Indonesia, and its outcomes will be beneficial for the two countres.

２．Summary of Dr. Hermanto’s presentation
Dr. Hermanto emphasized the importance of infrastructure development for economic growth and the challenges facing infrastructure development such as climate change, rapid urbanization, economic disparity and ground subsidence. He also introduced highway network, dam and dike development projects some infrastructure projects in Indonesia with budgets, maps, and photos. Then he explained the need for PPP to realize those projects and his efforts to promote the PPP by revising PPP policies, systems and others.

３．Summary of Prof. Ishida’s presentation Prof. Ishida discussed the importance of rail integrated urban development, Ensen-Kaihatsu, for sustainable urban development. He introduced successful example, Hankyu Railway, Tokyu Garden City Line, JR and Tsukuba Expressway, and further would offer the know-how to developing countries.

４．Summary of Mr. Vasa’s presentation
Mr. Vasa discussed the Sunda Strait Project and challenges facing the project. He introduced the findings of field survey on the Sunda Strait such as soil, volcanoes and traffic at the strait. He mentioned that that project was a major project in the country and it needed Japanese bridge technology.
 

Dr. Hermanto discuss infrastructure development in Indonesia

Mr. Vasa answers the questions given by the floor

５．Summary of Mr. Sakai’s presentation
Mr. Sakai discussed the Japan-Indonesia joint highway research project which had been carried out on pavement, traffic volume and tunnel. He also introduced a future joint research project plan in which “michino-eki (roadside station)” would be focused on.

６．Reception
A reception was held soon after the seminar. About 40 people including Dr. Hermanto, Mr. Vasa and their colleagues enjoyed each other’s company, made new friends and caught up with old friends in a relaxed atmosphere.

●Comment The seminar was meaningful for the audience and for two countries as well.  The four distinguished speakers discussed their viewpoints and exchanged unique ideas with each other. I noticed that all of the speakers discussed the similarities between the two countries, and was convinced that the knowledge and technologies that we had acquired over time would be useful for Indonesian civil engineers. I also realized that it was important to improve the communication between Japanese and Indonesian civil engineers in various manners so as to enable them to build cooperation and to contribute to the development of society more effectively.

 

IAC International Symposium on the Internationalization of Japanese Construction Industry Series, No. 2

IAC Professional Development and Education Program Group
organized a series of three international symposia as one of its activities　which focused on strengthening globally-capable human resources, assisting the Japanese construction industry to expand its business overseas. This time, the second symposium titled ”International Competitiveness of Construction Industry and Business Strategy―Development of Business Models in Construction Responding to Changes in the Market” was held. The speakers invited from overseas firms who work internationally shared their opinions on each company’s activities and overseas business expanding with 66 attendees from academia, industry, and public sectors participated in the Symposium.

In the Symposium Part1, Prof. Nawal K. Prinja Technical Director of AMEC Clean Energy delivered a speech. He discussed AMEC’s overseas development planning and fostering of international-minded human resources capable to play important roles in its business internationalization, using examples. His presentation was followed by a lively question-and-answer session.

In Part 2, Mr. Hideki SAKAEDA, AECOM Japan delivered a speech. He presented AECOM’s concept of global-business strategy and gave some examples of its projects. He also introduced AECOM’s human resource development program, and shared his views and opinions with the audience about necessary matters for Japanese companies to expand their businesses overseas, based on his business experience at both of Japanese and foreign firms. He discussed the issues of Japanese companies to overcome in expanding their businesses globally, using specific examples including differences in corporate culture and customs between Japan and foreign countries. The discussion attracted to audience many of who worked with the companies pursuing internationalization for their operations.

The third symposium was held on Tuesday, April 22, having two invited speakers, Mr. Jun OHASHI, Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) Limited and Mr. Masanobu OKA, Lend Lease Japan, Inc. The Group hopes that this symposium series will give useful clues the Japanese firms attempting to internationalize their business operations.
Thank you very much.

【Reported by IAC Professional Development and Education Group】
 

Mr. Prinja delivers a speech.

Mr. Sakaeda delivers a presentation.

IAC Current News (by Kotaro Hashimoto the 101st JSCE President)

IAC considers the development of human resources as the key factor to strengthen the international competitiveness of the Japanese construction industry and assists civil engineers to develop their professional skills and abilities in colorful ways.

IAC Professional Development and Education Group (PDE Group) is organizing the International Symposium Series this spring. The Series No. 1 on “The Internationalization of the Construction Industry and Human Resource Management: learning from current status and the challenges facing to the industry” on February 12 and the Series No. 2 on “International Competitiveness of Construction Industry and Business Strategy” was on March 17. The last one, No. 3 was held on “Strategic Management for International Diversification of Business: the Examples of Multinational Firms.” The PDE Group invited Japanese professionals who were working for multinational companies away from Japan and working at the overseas branch offices of Japanese companies as speakers. Those speakers discussed their professional and cultural experiences, which gave the audience a picture of the world’s construction market   and professional life overseas.

Then, on April 3, the IAC held another symposium series “Japanese Civil Engineers Seeking New Opportunities and Challenges Overseas.” The IAC chose as the topic of the first series the cross-Bosphorus Strait rail link construction project conducted by Taisei Corporation. The first series titled “The Cross-Bosphorus Strait Rail Linking between Asia and Europe” attracted a large audience. Mr. Nobuaki Tanaka a past Ambassador of Japan to Turkey discussed the close relationship between the two countries. Taisei engineers shared their experiences and views on the significance of that project, bidding and contracts process, technological challenges and development. It was a valuable opportunity to learn their unique experiences.

IAC will hold this symposium series to introduce more civil engineers who have made significant achievements and contribution to the civil engineering progress. Proposals for topics are very welcomed. Please contact the IAC.

Last, I would like to add that the project was recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award in the 43rd Japan Industrial Technology Awards which was hosted by the Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun newspaper.

Thank you.
 

What's Happening

●2014/5/22・・・・Workshop on the Role of Civil Engineer in Promoting the Export of Packaged Infrastructure
Systems Organizer Venue：JSCE HQ, Tokyo
（http://committees.jsce.or.jp/enedobo/node/41）

●2014/5/29-30・・・ 59th ECCE General Meeting & ECCE Conference Venue：Tbilisi, Georgia
（http://www.ecceengineers.eu/）

●2014/5/31・・・・Joint Company Information Session in Civil Engineering for International Students
Venue：JSCE HQ, Tokyo
（http://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/52）

  

Updates

●The summary of feature articles in the JSCE Magazine is available on the JSCE website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine
●Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 36
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm
 

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Y's  Murmuring

A large-scale mudslide occurred in a town in Osaka two months ago. It was caused by the surplus soil in the disposal areas located by the highway. The surplus soil covered an area 200m long x 3m high on the highway, causing the blackout that left approximately 1300 homes without power for more than an hour. Prior to the mudslide, a few smaller-scale mudslides had occurred there. This mudslide appears not an unforeseeable accident, but the accident caused by carelessness and negligence. One person’s carelessness, laziness and negligence cause another’s injury. That’s the way it is?