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IIESL Bid Farewell to

Mr. Mervin Ediriweera

On the 1st January 2011 Mr. Mervin

Ediriweera retired after 11 years of service

at the IIESL office. He joined at the

beginning of year 2000 as the Office

Manager.

The council organized a farewell party on

12th February at the DTET conference hall

and a majority of Council Members, Past

Presidents and Trustees gathered there to

say good bye to Mr.Ediriweera.

Eng. D. S. Senarath, Inco 2011 Chairman

and President of the Past President‟s

forum, making the appreciation speech at

this occasion accolade the great contribution of Mr. Ediriweera throughout

his service and highlighted that it is not

easy to find such a trustworthy person who

showed his integrity in every task he

handled as the Office Manager.

Eng. Upali Gunawardana, President and

Eng. H. B. Jayaratne, Past President also

spoke at the occasion. Mr. Ediriweera thanked everybody for helping him to

serve such a long period at IIESL office.

Er. Akhlaq Ahmed,

Passed Away

It is with deep regret we inform the

demise of Er. Akhlaq Ahmed, President

of Pakistan Diploma Engineers

Federation and Co - Chairman of SDEF

on 27th March‟11 at Karachi, Pakistan.

Our association with him through the

SAARC Diploma Engineers forum has

been valued at all times and he will be

fondly remembered by all members of

the Institution of Incorporated Engineers,

Sri Lanka who knew him.

We understand the great contributions

made by him especially to the

Engineering fraternity and to the society at large. The vacuum created with his

demise will be felt to all associated with

him and would not be easily filled.

The President of IIESL on behalf of all

members of the Institution conveyed his

deepest sympathy to all bereaved family

members and the colleagues at this

solemn moment.

DAY OUTING

By: Eng. Ms. N.T. Amarasinghe FIIESL

Day outing to Serenity Village Hotel,

Padukka was organized by the Ladies

Circle on 06th March 2011. It was a

memorable occasion for 50 participants

who took part in this event.

Meeting of the Ladies Circle was also held

and activities during the session & at the

Inco Exhibition were discussed.

Eng. Mangala Jayasinghe, Member

donated Rs.10,000/= for the Golden Book

at this occasion

Participants got the opportunity to learn

about Skin Care and observed a

Demonstration of a Facial Clean up conducted by Mrs. Deepthi Jayasinghe &

her assistants of Oriflame Group.

For information please send your

inquiries to: hemantha@gadmei.lk See article on „Video Bus‟ (Page 10)

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EDITORIAL BOARD Eng. Upali Gunawardena - President

Eng. Dr. Mrs. Bhadranie Thoradeniya - Hony. Secretary

Eng. S.T.J.Arawwawala - VP Media

Eng. Lt. Col. Pani Kavikeshawa - VP Membership

Eng. W. D. Fonseka - Editor

Eng. Ms. N. T. Amarasinghe - Council Member

Eng. H. B. Dayaratne - Council Member

SPONSORING MEMBERSHIP FEES

Toastmasters club

The Council of the Institution agreed to sponsor the membership fees of IIESL Toastmasters Club payable to TMI from the

INCO funds.

The maximum number of members entitled to this facility must be limited to 40.

Of the 40 Nos. 35 Nos have been allocated to IIESL Toastmasters Club and the balance 5 Nos. for the IIESL members of

outside clubs, whom will be selected on the first come first serve basis.

Every member must have completed minimum 3 Projects and have maintained minimum (50%) attendance during the past six months to become eligible to sponsor his or her membership fees at the next renewal.

President of the IIESL Toastmasters club must send a written request to the Institution stating performance of all members

for the past half yearly period of the TMI at the time of renewal for release for the forthcoming half yearly period.

The members attached to other clubs must request in writing, stating their performance during the past half yearly period and

with the approval of the relevant club president for reimbursement of payment done by them to TMI for the same period.

(Extracts from: Minutes of the 6th Council Meeting session 2009/2010 held on 9th January 2010 )

THIS EDITION

News Items 02

Toastmaster Membership fees 03

Competency Based System of Membership 04

Kandy Scenic Beauty Affected By Rain 04

Quick Guide to CICES Membership 05

Door is open for you to join IIESL T/M Club 06

Editorial 07

Announcement – City & Guilds 07

English for Communication 08

Video Bus Ayubowan Sri Lanka 09

Motor Insurance Programme 09

Hibrid Cars 10

Today is Mine 10

Another Golden Feather to IIESL Cap 11

Sinhala and Hindu New Year Celebrations 12

The President and the Council of Management of IIESL

Wish all Members and their families

A Happy and Prosperous

Sinhala and Hindu New Years

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COMPETENCY BASED SYSTEM FOR

AWARDING MEMBERSHIP

By Eng. Lt. Col. H. K. U. P. Kavikeshawa, FIIESL, I.Eng.

Vice President, Chairman, membership Functional Committee

With effect from 1st of January 2011 the IIESL has introduced a

new Competency Based System for awarding membership to

„Member‟ and „Associate Member‟ Categories. The new

guidelines for Membership Application Submission were

approved by the Council of Management on 09th October 2010

at the 3rd Council Meeting of session 2010/2011.

According to the new system, in addition to achieving the

required qualifications, candidates should demonstrate their

competencies in Knowledge, Engineering Ability and

Professional Attributes. New prospective applicants could carry

out a self evaluation, utilizing the new guidelines to determine their suitability for the relevant class of membership.

Anybody who wishes to get more information of the new

system or on the guidelines for „Membership Application

Submission‟ could access the IIESL website and download all

relevant information or obtain a printed version of the

Guidelines from the IIESL Office by paying a nominal fee.

In order to give hands on experience to panel members who

will examine the prospective candidates, a workshop was held

on 4th December 2010. This workshop consisted of two sessions, where the first session was an interactive session and

the second session was dedicated to carry out a „Practical Test‟

to evaluate the Prospective Panel Members.

Eng..Anton Peiris Conducting the Training Session

This workshop was organized by Membership Functional

Committee and was conducted by the Past President Eng.

Anton Peiris.

Council Members who participated the training

KANDY SCENIC BEAUTY AFFECTED BY RAIN

By: Eng. Ashoka Angammana, MIIESL, I. Eng.

Kandy came in for a rude shock with the adverse weather

experienced all over the island having experienced some heavy

slips on the beautiful mountain slopes incurring few deaths of

innocent people. Not very many years back we had the same

experience at Peradeniya where the slopes abutting Colombo

road at Peradeniya junction got washed down due to slopes

getting soaked and loosing the stability which prompted the

authorities to close down the bazaar and make arrangements to

shift the business area to elsewhere. It is encouraging to note

that some measures have been taken to stabilize the sliding slopes and the road being made danger free transport route.

Around the mountain slopes of Kandy lake too there were some

heavy slips that make the sight around the beautiful lake

dreadful and high time some authority is entrusted power to

investigate these matters and to take some preventive action to

avoid repetition of these land slides.

Kandy lake has come under good control to face the calamities

it encountered some time back with the algae threats in lake

water, siltation problem and eroding banks. It is known that

Kandy Lake Management Committee was able to pool up many

disciplines of science together to tackle these varying factors

that effected the deterioration of the lake.

It could be a good move to consider extend the managerial

powers to Kandy Lake management committee to ensure

stability of slopes around lake so that these slopes could be

maintained with stability to ensure scenic beauty of Kandy city

in rain and sunshine as well.

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QUICK GUIDE TO CICES MEMBERSHIP

FOR CORPORATE MEMBERS OF THE IIESL

APPLYING FOR THE GRADE OF MEMBER AT

CHARTERED INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

SURVEYORS (CICES).

By : Eng. Dhammika T. Gamage, MIIESL, I.Eng. Chairman of the IIESL- UAE Branch Secretary of the CICES - UAE Region

On Saturday 14 March 2009, CICES signed a memorandum of

understanding (MOU) with the IIESL. The MOU enshrines the

formal recognition of both institutions and calls on members to

professional development.

The MOU underpins the proximity in which members of both

organizations are already working, particularly in the Middle

East, and seeks to encourage the development of joint policies,

standards and procedures which will help to ensure the wide

spread acceptance of the professional competence and

professionalism both institutions support and encourage wherever

they are in the world.

The MOU also contains an agreed mechanism for awarding

reciprocal membership through a fast track procedure. The

following quick guide of such procedure is prepared for IIESL candidates who seek to excel their professional qualifications by

obtaining CICES memberships.

Eligibility

An applicant shall be a Corporate Member of IIESL who is able

to match the CICES general competencies and one of the

following specialist competency streams.

Commercial Management Quantity Surveying

Estimating

Cost Engineering Project Management

Procurement Management

Construction Law

Geospatial Engineering Land surveying and Engineering

Hydrographic

Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

Geographic Information Systems

How to Apply

Application form signed by two sponsors (Members of CICES or IIESL).

A completed principal sponsor‟s form.

A passport sized photograph.

A detailed C.V.

Two years continuing professional development Records.

Self certification against the CICES (or IIESL competencies).

This will include the general competency requirements and at

least one field of specialization in their respective

membership disciplines. If IIESL specialist competencies are

chosen, they must broadly match one of the CICES

specialism.

Applications must be certified by IIESL HQ before being

forwarded to CICES HQ.

Application fee for £95 sterling payable to CICES.

The Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV)

The Detailed C.V. is an opportunity to demonstrate

knowledge, understanding, range of skills and experience on the basis of a whole career description. The C.V. should

include colleges and universities attended, qualifications

gained as well as a whole career description. This should

include any periods not in employment or employed in none

or semi-related fields.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

This is a record of Continuing Professional Development

(CPD) undertaken in the last two years. Guidance on how to

put together suitable CPD records can be found in the booklet

„Continuing Professional Development (CPD)‟. The records may be submitted in any reasonable format including those

required by other recognized professional bodies. CPD

covers a whole range of learning activities including new

skills gained at work, workshops, seminars, training courses,

reading and mentoring. (Download Guide to CPD from

CICES website www.cices.org)

CICES Competencies

The competencies are statements of the knowledge, skills and

experience that the applicant must have to qualify as a

Member. Each competency is demonstrated by an „activity‟

and each activity must have been assessed to one of the standards defined below. The required standard for reach

activity is clearly indicated on each competency sheet.

Activity standards:

A Appreciation A general appreciation and

awareness of the activity is

required

K Knowledge This standard requires

knowledge and understanding of

the activity

E Experience To reach this standard the

activity must have been

performed independently or

under supervision. Experience of the relevant techniques and

functions must be in addition to

showing appreciation and

knowledge.

B Ability To be able, without supervision,

to perform relevant functions

and will be able to supervise

other less experienced staff.

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The Introduction to the competencies, general competencies

and all of the specialist competencies can be downloaded

from the ICES website www.cices.org. These competencies

must be self signed by IIESL Corporate Member applicants.

Member Review Interview

The Member Review interview is a formal panel interview

conducted by a panel of 2 or 3 examiners. Review Interviews

may at the moment be held in the UK or in the UAE. Reviews may be arranged in Sri Lanka in the future.

Review Outcomes

The examiners produce a detailed report and make a

recommendation to the Education, Professional Development

and Membership Committee. Once this has been ratified the

applicant is advised of the decision which may be:

To request that the applicant be granted the grade of

Member.

To recommend a „deferral‟. A deferral signifies that the

examiners would like to see evidence of a specific nature before recommending that the grade of membership

applied for is granted. A deferral could involve writing a

report on a technical matter on the basis of a question

that was not fully answered during the interview. In

some cases it can be a matter of producing further CPD

records or successfully completing a short course.

Examiners provide guidance that the conditions of the

deferral should be completed within a specific time

frame (usually 3, 6 or 12 months).

To recommend a „referral‟. A referral highlights specific

areas of experience or expertise relating to the

competencies that have not been fully demonstrated

during the interview. In the case of a referral, the

applicant will be given specific reasons why the referral

has been given and will be given the chance of another

interview, re-examining specific aspects that are deficient.

The examiners may suggest a specific period before a re-

interview should take place. This will not exceed two

years.

In exceptional cases of failure, in which case the grade

of Affiliate will be offered.

In the case of a deferral or referral from the Member Review

CICES will offer a „holding grade‟ for the candidate e.g.

Associate Member for an application for Member.

Getting Your Result

The CICES Education, Professional Development and

Membership Committee confirms all applications at its

quarterly meetings (January, April, July and October).

Results are released by personal letter during the week

following the meeting.

Applications may be submitted electronically to

applications@cices.org .

DOOR IS OPEN FOR YOU TO JOIN IIESL TOASTMASTERS CLUB

P. Kamburawala , MIIESL, I.Eng.

President – IIESL Toastmasters Club

In 2006 my good friend Eng. Sarath Munchanayake invited me

to join IIESL Toastmasters Club. He explained me that this is

the place to improve one‟s public speaking skills and leadership

skills. Though I could write a little I was a person very poor in

public speaking even in my mother tongue.

One Wednesday evening he took me to the meeting. This

meeting was conducted once in a fortnight from 06.00 pm to

08.00 pm at Lions Activity Centre, Vidya Mawatha (behind

IESL Head Office building) Colombo 7. I was a person

travelling all over the Island for my official duties. However I

was able to get adjusted my monthly official site visit time table

not to miss these two meetings because these meetings were so

interesting.

A Toastmasters‟ meeting has three speaking sessions.

1. Round Robin Session.

Each member is given 20 seconds to speak. You may not

believe in my early days I could not speak 20 seconds. I

became dumb or I was just murmuring.

2. Prepared Speech Session.

In each meeting four or five members are given the

opportunity to speak 5 to 7 minutes on a topic selected by

them. Toastmasters International has prepared educational

manuals to guide the members to prepare their speeches in

such a way to get the members speaking ability improved

step by step.

3. Table Topic Session. List of very simple topics are given during this session.

Members who did not get the chance to speak during the

prepared speech session can speak 2 minutes on a topic

selected by the member.

In addition to these speaking roles there are so many leadership

roles to practice in a meeting. Those are (1).Toastmaster

(2).Topics Master (3).Timer (4).Ah Counter (5).General

Evaluator (6).Grammarian (7).Prepared Speech Evaluators and

(8).Table topic Speech Evaluators.

All these roles are evaluated in friendly manner by the

colleague members for the improvement of speaking skills and

leadership skills of the individuals.

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Toastmasters International teaches us that the most important

person in a club is the member and not the officers. Officers

have been elected by the members, to serve members and not to

be on top of members.

Toastmasters International‟s core values are integrity

(Honesty), dedication to excellence, service to the member,

and respect for the individual.

Toastmasters in Sri Lanka conduct Training Programmes

annually. I participated for my first training programme with

shivering legs and tom-tom beating heart beat. I was a person

who could not speak 20 seconds in Round Robin Session.

Toastmaster Professor Francis Gama from Bangalore

conducted a workshop on Humorous Speaking. The way he

conducted the session my fear diminished little by little. At the

end he invited 20 volunteers to come on to the stage. I also got

on to the stage with all my guts. We stood on a raw facing the

audience. All of us were asked to develop a story starting from

the first person from the right hand side. Story should be about

a frog in a pond. When Professor Gama signaled previous speaker had to stop and next speaker had to continue from

there. I was surprised; I could speak without getting stuck and

made the audience laugh too. Thanks to Toastmasters and

Professor Francis Gama my fear on public speaking went away.

From that day onwards I participate all Toastmaster‟s training

programmes.

My good friend Mr. Munchanayake left the club for an

overseas appointment who was the Sergeant at Arms, the

lowest ranking officer in the Club. I had to fill his vacancy that

year. Step by step I climbed the ladder and today I am the President of IIESL Toastmasters Club.

I have found a lot of members of IIESL are weak in

communication and grammar. Some of them are already

members in Toastmasters Clubs close to their work place or

residence. Some have obtained membership in more than one

club and they have improved.

Dear members of IIESL, most of you are holding senior

positions in your establishments and busy with your official

work and family commitments and think there is no time to participate at Toastmasters‟ meetings. Manage your time and

join Toastmasters and get rid of the fear in public speaking.

Be a member in IIESL Toastmasters Club. Invite your friends

to join. Our door is open for you.

Applications are now called from IIESL Members for the Graduateship (GCGI) and

from Associate Members for Licentiateship (LCGI) awards of City & Guilds on 12th

July 2011. Applications will be closed on 31st May 2011.

Please visit www.iie.lk for success stories of Eng. Rohitha Wanigasekera (M1803) and

Eng. Kamal Ariyaratne

EDITORIAL

THE INSTITUTION OF INCORPORATED

ENGINEERS, SRI LANKA

12/2B, Galle Road,

Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Sponsoring membership fees for Toastmasters Club was

approved by the council to help its members to improve their

communication and leadership skills.

A person who can communicate well is always in a position

of advantage as compared to others. Good communication

skills do not limit themselves to speech only. It is the ability

to understand what to speak and when, that is just as

important.

Good communication skills also call for understanding and incorporating non-verbal communicating skills such as the

sitting and standing postures, facial expressions, and other

physical gestures. While these may seem unimportant, they

are, in fact, as crucial as your choice of words.

Some people can communicate better than the others, and

these are the ones who mostly make it big in life. Whether it

be the field of academics, business, or the corporate world,

our ability to communicate well is what will make us stand

out in the crowd.

In any case, companies know that it would be most

advantageous if they could employ engineers who are not only technically proficient but also socially and

communicatively adept. Private sector, most of the time

prefers to employ Incorporated Engineers for manager and

team leader positions.

In their capacity as managers and team leaders, engineers

must speak to employees, must deliver presentations and

must conduct meetings. All of these - from a short, simple

conversation to a long technical presentation - require good

speaking skills.

The IIESL is continuing to provide its services to the general

membership and sponsoring Toastmasters Club is also

another Continuing Professional Development Programme (CPD)

Eng. W. D. Fonseka, MIIESL

EDITOR

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ENGLISH FOR COMMUNICATION

By: Eng. Asai Thiagarajah, FIIESL, I.Eng.

Usefulness of the English Language can only be ignored at the

expense of progress. This fact was known even to those who

advocated against the English Language in state affairs – hence

they provided a good English education to their offspring.

An appreciable number of adults in our country possess some

knowledge in English. However it has been found that some coaching is needed to enable them to use the language in their

routine work. It is not possible to adopt a formal syllabus to

achieve the desired goals in this regard in a short time. Hence I

would suggest a course confined to the following guidelines to

impart a reasonable knowledge to all the promising aspirants so

that they would acquire adequate proficiency in English within

a short time, to effectively:

I. Speak flawlessly

II. Address an audience

III. Write purposefully

A “question and answer sequence” has to be adopted in a class

of students. The teacher should be a person who can come

down to the level of the taught (students) to ensure that the

class runs throughout its length with enormous humour, zest,

and wit to provide the necessary inspiration to the students to

listen attentively. In brief the class should be somewhat

analogous to a „Workshop‟, „Seminar‟, or „Symposium‟ than a

conventional class in a school. Advantages have to be taken

from any knowledge evinced by individual students in the class

casually, to develop the knowledge of everyone including

teacher.

Lively examples, anecdotes and humorous stories have to be

brought into the scene to make the students more attentive and

the students should be compelled to tell stories to the entire

class. This will provide a thorough participation of everyone in

the proceedings of the class and also pave way for the students

to develop their speaking (Public speaking) skills. Mistakes

made by the students have to be discussed openly and they

should be corrected instantly, without making the students feel

that learning English is boring and it is something beyond the

scope of an average Sri Lankan. They should be required to

memorize popular speeches made by prominent people of the past and the necessary coaching provided to deliver them in the

class eloquently.

The election of office bearers for a literary body, trade union or

any other organization should be taught from the very

beginning viz:

I. Proposition of names for a “Pro-tempore” Chairman and

the subsequent election.

II. Proposition of names for the election of a General

Secretary.

III. Proposition of names for the Chairman – this to be

further followed by the Pro-tempore Chairman

relinquishing office and making way for the regular

Chairman to take his seat.

IV. Election of all the other office bearers and the Auditor

for the session ending at the end of a prescribed period

of time.

V. Formulation and adoption of a suitable constitution for

the body that would remain unchanged for a long period

of time.

Letter writing (ordinary & official) & report writing, with stress

on the importance of punctuation and the flow of words to

make the material produced readable and understandable.

Attempts also should be made to make the students to

assimilate the sweetness of the „Verse‟-by explaining a few

stanzas of selected poems like Wordsworth‟s „Daffodils‟ and

Walter. S. Senior‟s Call of Lanka‟. They should be encouraged

to memorize them as this too will make them to get rid of their

fear for speaking in public.

Wherever possible simple English should be used and

explanations provided if very necessary in Sinhala / Tamil.

Common errors in English including Ceylonisms (as referred to

by the late Mr. W.H. Samaranayake – Author of „Practical

English‟, „English with a Smile‟ and several other books to aid

the study of English) should be discussed in detail. The students

should be made to know how a trial is conducted in a court of

law to develop their skill in arguing.

This course is quite unique and its success depends on the

teacher and the taught. The teacher should be a person capable of accommodating the susceptibility of an average Sri Lankan

embarking on learning English; by making the learner feel that

it is quite natural to make mistakes as English is an alien

language and it is possible to master it, if approached

scientifically. These guidelines are good enough to get an

adequate degree of proficiency in English for an individual with

a basic knowledge in the language.

In conclusion I would like to introduce a game known as „The

game of words building‟ the details of which are found below.

This game will undoubtedly induce the students to learn the language to a good extent zealously

The Game of Words Building

A sweeter way of learning English by building a richer

vocabulary is possible through the game of „words building‟.

An attempt must be genuinely made by every participant to

introduce more and more words, so that all the participants will

be benefited by knowing more and more words. However to

maintain a certain thrill and sensation, it will be necessary as in

the case of any other game to identify the winner and the loser.

The following simple rules would suffice to meet the

requirement of the game:

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I. All the participants shall sit in a circle with a pen and

a notebook.

II. The initials of the participants will be written clearly

on a board or a sheet of paper maintained by a

participant of choice, by those participating. This

person shall record all details that would emerge

during the course of the game.

III. Plurals, names of individuals, countries, cities, or any

other object where the spellings involved are not standardized by any authority, will not be accepted

for this game.

IV. The game can start with one participant by

mentioning any one of the alphabets of the English

language and the others in turn continuing with an

alphabet each, so that eventually the longest possible

word would be built.

V. Any participant responsible for the ending up of a

word will be the loser and will be punished by the

entry of the letter „D‟ against his / her name („D‟ is

the first letter for the word DONKEY)

VI. Thus the person who scores the other letters

O,N,K,E,Y first, will be declared the loser of the

game and will stand a feed for the entire participants.

When it happens to be the end of a word for a participant, he / she should say „continued‟ immediately after saying the last

letter, so that the next person will continue with the game to

form a longer word. When challenged, the person who said

„continued‟ should be able to tell the intended word. Otherwise

he / she will become the loser and pay the penalty.

A dictionary will be the judge in determining the correctness of

all words.

Video Bus” Ayubowan Sri Lanka. By: Hemantha Wickremasinghe AMIIE (SL)

This is a concept which was introduced by Gadmei Computer Technology. It is a new media of audio video advertising

which does not involve broadcasting or hosting. Gadmei has

introduced a concept which is audio visual equipment for

ordinary passenger buses which is an entertainment unit for

passenger entertainment systems namely “ Video Bus ” .

The unit has been installed successfully in 75 buses so far. We

are further expanding to provide entertainment for more long

distance buses. Certain sectors were made locally under the

Technical advice of Gadmei Electronics Co., Ltd .China . For

this project we have introduced our theme which appear as “ Ayubowan Sri Lanka ” in all screens.

Technically the “ Video Bus” equipment uses more advanced,

low power consumption, circuitry designs. Therefore battery

power saving will extend the Battery Life.

Advantages of Video Bus

Public Entertainment and Educational support

Low cost Audio Video Advertising Media

Public awareness

Self Employment for Audio Video designers.

We are the sole distributors for Gadmei Products in Sri Lanka.

Also our wide range of Computer Multimedia products

(Monitarayen Tv) we promote since 1999 which are now very

useful to Computer users & to others. For the upcoming

season we hope to offer free Audio Video advertisements as a

promotional measure

(See the advertisement on page 02).

IIESL Headquarters Building Fund

Motor Insurance Programme

The Council of Management of IIESL at its second meeting held on the 11th September 2010 approved a vehicle insurance

scheme with Sri Lanka Insurance as a fund raiser to collect the much needed funds to build our new Headquarters building (Council

decision: 2010-11/CM02/012) The council appointed Eng. W D Fonseka (M 0157) as the Insurance Agent of SLI for IIESL for this

purpose and he is now authorized to directly deal with the members of IIESL.

We urge you to favourably consider this opportunity for enhancing our building fund

while receiving attractive benefits to you.

Please contact IIESL office or Eng. W D Fonseka ( 071 8263336 ) or www.iie.lk for further details

10

HYBRID CARS

Eng S T J Arawwawala, FIIESL, I.Eng.

Did the thought to buy a hybrid car ever cross your mind? Not

surprisingly most people these days do drive or travel in hybrid

vehicles, trains, or ships. Hybrid is basically a combination of

two sources of power to propel a vehicle. The most common

form of hybrid is the gasoline or diesel engines combined with

one or more electric motors.

.

A Typical Hybrid Vehicle

A typical hybrid car would have a small economical petrol or

diesel engine, a technologically advanced electric motor and a set of batteries. The batteries can be charged at home or whilst

on the run. The vehicle can be driven either by the petrol /diesel

engine, by the electric motor or by a combination of both the

engine and the electric motor. Different driving combinations

are available with different makes and models. High fuel

savings are associated with hybrid cars since it can be driven by

the batteries during short town running combined with the

feature of switching off the engine when stationary at traffic

lights.

Advantages vs Downside of Hybrids Hybrides no doubt carry many advantages. However

there are downsides as well. One of the main drawbacks

is that with a fully charged battery the range of travel is

limited to around 50 – 100 miles. When related to a

return journey the range for one way becomes 25 – 50

miles. This may be slightly extended by the on the run

charging system where the electric motor is used in the

reversed order (electronically) to act as a generator to

replenish the batteries.

Yet another down side is the lack of horse power. Unless

the vehicles is equipped with a large horse power engine, top speed, acceleration and high end

performance is somewhat compromised.

Where the economy and the environment friendliness of

the hybrid come in to question is when batteries need to

be replaced. Whether they are lithium iron or lead acid

batteries, they need to be replaced once every two or three

years. The cost of such replacement could be as much as Rs

100,000 to 200,000 depending on the battery capacity.

Should You Buy a Hybrid There are many commercially available makes and models in

the open market. Honda Insight, Toyota Prius and Honda Civic

hybrid are a few of these. A used hybrid car under three years

can now be purchased for less than Rs 3Mn. It does make sense

to invest in a hybrid in terms of fuel economy, low emissions, and new technology.

However it is noteworthy that as fossil fuels run out and liquid

fuel prices escalate, the future will no doubt be for hybrids.

Within this scenario investing in a hybrid before prices become

unaffordable, may be a wise move to consider. Hybrids may

well be fashionable before too long.

IIESL FUND RAISING PROJECT

“Today’s Mine”

“Today is Mine” programme is one of the strategies to raise funds required for the daily expenses of IIESL. We kindly request all

members‟ assistance to bear up the daily expenses of the Institution.

Your contribution of Rs.1000/= will enable us to reserve a day of your choice which may be your Birthday, the birthday of your Spouse, Children, Parents or to commemorate any important event or day in your life. The specific day/s will be reserved and

displayed in the institution calendar and the Institution will send its greetings through post accordingly..

You may send your contribution/s to :The Institution of Incorporated Engineers, Sri Lanka, No.12/2B, Galle Road, Moratuwa. Sri

Lanka (In cash, by cheque / Money order written in favour of INSTITUTION OF INCORPORATED ENGINEERS, Savings A/C No.

061020287932, HNB Bank, Ratmalana )

Please do not forget to send your Membership No., Contact No. and Mailing Address to which you wish to receive

the greetings along with your contribution.

11

ANOTHER GOLDEN FEATHER TO IIESL CAP

By. Mr. H.B.Dayaratne, AMIIESL

IIESL took a giant leap forward when it undertook conducting

of a 2 week residential training program sponsored by Ministry

of Youth Affairs and Skills Development. When Eng. Lalith

Jayasinghe together with President Eng. Upali Gunawardena

tabled the idea of entering into such programs after visiting

Technical Education Development Project (TEDP) which comes under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills

Development, there were few members who were optimistic on

the issue among many who held different, negative opinions.

The Education and Training Functional Committee lead by

Eng. K.K. Kithsiri undertook the herculean task of making it

happen. They lost the first bid not for a shortcoming of the

proposal but perhaps due to the high pricing which came as a

result of inexperience of such activities. Committee never gave

up, kept submitting proposals against all odds and won one of

the programmes “Training in Equipment Upgrading and

Facility Renovation” for Academic and academic staff of Colleges of Technology (CoTs).

The programme was conducted from 2nd January 2011 to 15th

January 2011 at Palm Beach Hotel – Mount Lavinia. There

were 18 participants from Maradana, Kandy, Kurunegala,

Anuradhapura, Ratnapura and Badulla CoTs. The subject being

too technical the resource persons had to face few problems at

the outset but their dedication, knowledge and experience gave

way for smooth flow of the programme.

The Resource Persons

The majority of the delivery was done by Past President Eng.

J.K. Lankathilake, Mr. S. Sivaloganathan – Corporate &

Management Trainer, Mr. T. Paskaran – Procurement Specialist

while Eng. Ms. Padmini Batuwitage – Additional Secretary –

Ministry of Environment, Eng. Prabhath Jayawardena –

Production Engineer- Solex Engneering, Eng. Quintus

Fernando- Manager – Logistics – HNB Tower, Eng. Nihal

Rathnayake – Water Treatment Specialist made valuable

contributions.

President Elect Eng. K. Ariyawansa, Past Presidents Eng.

Benedict Ulluwishewa and Eng. Tissa Seneviratne contributed

a lot at the panel discussions. To complement the programme

there were two field visits organized to Hayleys – GMT

Knitting Mills (PVT) Ltd and HNB Tower where the

participants were able to see themselves of what they gathered

at the sessions.

One unexpected incident happened during the training when the President Eng. Upali Gunawardena who was in Australia

addressed the participants live and had a very interesting

interactive session. A movie to motivate the participants, a

social event and an entertainment session were organized to

keep the participants alive.

In conclusion it is a fact that this programme made IIESL‟s

mark in the area and also brought in the biggest ever single

income cheque and made a remarkable improvement in the

financial status with minimum man-power involvement and

within a short period of time. If one could recall the past, the Institution purchased the first computer for its office through a

training programme organized for its members. There is no

doubt that mind frames of all members of the Council of

Management are now set to think big and perform big.

The Participants at the TEDP Project

The contributions made by the Hony. Secreatary Eng. Dr. Mrs

Bhadranie Thoradeniya, Vice President – Chairman Education

and Training – Eng. K.K. Kithsiri, Eng. Lalith Jayasinghe, Eng.

B.S. Perera, Eng. S. Kulendran and Mr. H.B. Dayaratne and staff at the Secretariat led to the successful conclusion of the

programme.

Cooperation rendered by the TEDP staff, Mr. Hector

Hemachandra (Project Director), Mr. P.M.P. Perera (Project

Manager), Ms. Dilini Rajapakse (Project Assistant), Mr.

Gamini Amarasinghe (Consultant) were immensed.

Dr. T.A.G. Gunasekera from ITUM who graces the Certificate

awarding Ceremony and Prf. Kapila Gunasekera from

UNIVOTEC who graced the Social Event commended the

programme.

12

IIESL - SINHALA AND HINDU NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS 2011 The Vice President and the Chairman of Media and Publicity Functional committee, Eng. Jagath Erawwawala and his team arranged

the celebrations for Sinhala and Hindu New Year 2011 at Sunday at Hendrik Pediris Grounds, Havelock Road Colombo 5 on the 10th

of April 2011

The highlights included scraping coconuts by macho men and by sweet ladies, throwing hoops at mega bottles, traditional lime on

spoon race, eating buns for kids, tug-a-war, kotta-pora on one leg, Kana Mutti etc.etc. and not to forget the delicious array of food

items enjoyed by young and old alike.

The event was participated by Eng. Upali Gunawardena (President), Past Presidents, Council Members and Members of IIESL and

their families. We invite all members to participate in this annual family event once again in 2012 while thanking the organizing

committee and all well wishers who sponsored in numerous ways.

Next Newsletter will be published in July 2011 For electronic copy & other information visit www.iie.lk

If undelivered please return to: Institution of Incorporated Engineers, Sri Lanka 12/2B, Galle Road Moratuwa

ANNOUNCEMENT

The 5th SDEF Convention and the Annual Sessions 2011 will be held from

21st July to 24th July 2011 in Colombo

Please reserve the dates to participate at the events