David has been appointed as Chief Resident Engineer for the "Mahaweli Water Security Investment Program" (MWSIP). This is an extension of the Mahaweli Development Program (MDP) formulated in the 1960s to create a series of small tank cascade systems in North Central and North Provinces of Sri Lanka taking water from the Mahaweli River Basin using large transfer canals and reservoirs. The updated program is the construction of North Central Province Canal Project (NCPCP) which will be implemented in two sequential phases. Phase 1 comprises three main individual projects, namely Upper Elahera Canal Project, North Western Province Canal Project and Minipe Left Bank Canal Rehabilitation Project.

David was honoured to be invited as the Keynote Presenter at The 8th International Symposium on Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering Practices for Sustainable Development at Ruhuna University. The Symposium was held via video conference but had many attendees on line.

David's presentation "Constraints on the application of modern tunnelling techniques to projects in Sri Lanka and SE Asia" was well received with many positive and favourable comments about the speech and the style in which it was delivered.

The whole event was well organised and a great success in these difficult times.

 

The Havieron decline passes through Permian sandstone deposits. Some of this consists of unconsolidated silty sands.

David was asked by Newcrest Mining to provide advice on reducing and controlling the water ingress into the tunnel

Located in Uttarakhand in Northern India, the Rishikesh to Karanprayag Railway is 125km long with a significant part in tunnels and bridges spanning deep gorges and valleys of the Ganga Alaknanda Rivers.

David was appointed as Team Leader for the Project Management Consultant (PMC) of package 7 with AECOM (India). Package 7 has been divided into two packages with two separate contractors.

Package 7a has been awarded to Max HES Jv and consists of  a 7.08km tunnel and a bridge. Package 7b has been awarded to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd and consists of a 9.4km tunnel and Tilani Station.

Both tunnels consist of the main railway tunnel and an escape tunnel and are also accessed midway by adits to increase excavation progress.

Tunnelling is essentially drill and blast using NATM with soft ground sections at portals and where crossing the many faults along the alignment. The geology is essentially the Garhwal Group of the Lesser Himalayas consisting of quartzites, dolomites and phylites with some ultrabasic meta-sediments.

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