President's Message
Dear Members,
It has been my honour to serve as President of the HKGES for the past two years
and re-elected for a further term from 2010 to 2012. During the period of presidency
I have been ably supported by my Council Members, who are dedicated to accomplish
our main goal of knowledge exchange in Geotechnical Engineering. I call upon your
further and continual support in making HKGES¡¦s activities a success in the future.
In the last few years, we witnessed a rapid and sustained expansion of the Chinese
economy as well as a strong commitment by the local government of HKSAR in embarking
on many infrastructural projects, including various Mass Transit Railway lines and
extensions like the Kwun Tong Extension and Shatin-Central Line, and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong
Kong Express Rail Link, etc. All this provided a colourful backdrop for the HKGES
to organise fieldtrips, technical seminars and regional/international conferences
for our members.
One of the more notable activities was
the seminar on "Natural Hillsides: Study and Risk Mitigation Measures" held on 17
April 2009 in conjunction with the Geotechnical Division of the HKIE, where it was
well received by over 300 participants. The seminar was conceived after the heavy
rainfall in June 2008 when the natural terrain suffered from severe damages. Two
keynote lectures on current methods of natural hillside landslip prevention and
mitigation in the Mainland, and challenges of natural terrain for geotechnical practitioners
in Hong Kong were delivered. Our focus on this topic has also been paralleled by
the HKSAR government¡¦s commitment in the Landslip Prevention and Mitigation Programme
(LPMitP).
Another highly anticipated activity is
the 14th Asian Regional Conference which is going to be jointly organised with the
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, the Polytechnic University in May
2011. The theme will be "Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges
and Solutions". This is going to be a vastly relevant seminar for all geotechnical
engineers, as extensive topics on slopes, foundations, underground construction
and tunnelling, dam and embankments, rock engineering and geoenvironmental engineering
will be covered. I hereby call for your active support in this key activity of HKGES
towards international collaboration in furthering interflow of geotechnical knowledge.
The concerted efforts of our committee members have translated into a variety of initiatives to promote the sharing of knowledge among geotechnical practitioners. We will continue our devotion in contributing to the advancement of our profession in Hong Kong.
Building on the experience learnt from organising the 14th ARC, it is our intention to try and bid for hosting the International Society of Soil mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Conference in 2017. Stay tuned for more news!
Wishing you all a prosperous and successful year of 2011!
Yours sincerely,
Ir Albert Ho
President
16 January 2011