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New
Colombo port breakwater designs taking shape LHI chief executive officer, Malith Mendis said the new port, which would be built in stages, is required to cater to new-generation container ships which would be too big for Colombo's existing terminals. The new breakwater is partly funded by the Asian Development Bank under the Colombo port efficiency and expansion project. LHI does computer and physical modelling of the breakwater on contract for the main consultants Scott Wilson Kirkpatric & Co. in UK. The new port will have a depth of 18 metres compared to the 14-metre depth in the existing Colombo port which would be inadequate for deep-draft container ships of the future. It is to be built in deep waters off the existing Colombo port. Built of artificial rock armour components known as 'corelock' and being designed and tested to withstand waves of 8-9 metres whose probability of occurrence is very rare - once in a 1,000 years or so. The total height of the breakwater would be equivalent to that of a 10-storey building. The testing is being done at LHI's wave basin in its hydraulic laboratory in Moratuwa near Bolgoda lake. LHI, originally the research unit of the Coast Conservation Department, was privatised in 1983 and equipped with Danish aid. It was incorporated as a company in 1984 and marks its 20th anniversary this year. It has an unusual ownership structure with 85 percent of shares being owned by the employees share trust, five percent by the Treasury and the balance by the public. The staff of 50 includes several engineers with Master's degrees. LHI's areas of work cover coastal engineering and environment, ports, inland water and river hydraulics, irrigation and water management, urban water supply and sewerage and drainage. Apart from detailed designs for the Colombo South Harbour project, future LHI projects include designs for the intake model for the Upper Kotmale hydro-power station, offshore sand searches to provide an alternative to river sand that is rapidly depleting and studies on the proposed Indo-Lanka land bridge. LHI has done field studies and designs on several fisheries harbours, coastal protection work in Negombo, studies for the Galle port modernisation work, and cooling water studies for the proposed Norochcholai coal power plant. It also has done studies on flooding in the Kelani river basin, storm water drainage for Colombo and other towns and the Colombo-Katunayake expressway project, and environmental impact assessment on the submarine pipeline for the Muthurajawela petroleum tank farm. It has won contracts overseas such as coast protection work in Brunei. |
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