The ceremony was held onÌý9thÌýJune at 10:00 am, with Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof.ÌýRahulaÌýAttalageÌýas the Chief Guest and Mr.ÌýAshokaSiriwardena, Managing DirectorÌýBitumixÌý(Pvt.) Ltd. and Mr.ÌýGaminiÌýEkanayaka, Chairman, National Council for Road Safety attended and Prof. U.G.A.ÌýPuswewalla, Dean, Faculty of Engineering as Guest ofÌýHonour. Representatives from NationalÌýTransport Commission, Road Development Authority, Provincial Road Development Authorities and Private sector also attended the event.
The new laboratory building has been designed to house two laboratories. APT lab will be in the ground floor andÌýABTÌýlab will be on the first floor once completed.
During the first phase of the project the ground floor of the building will be constructed. The estimated cost of this phase is approximately.ÌýRsÌý6 million, 4 million of which is donated byÌýBitumixÌýPvtÌýLtd, a leading bitumen manufacturer in Sri Lanka andÌýRs. 1.7 million granted byÌýUGC. In additionÌýRs. 2 million is allocated for installation of a state of the art exhaust system for the laboratory in order to improve health and safety of the laboratory. The total estimated cost of the building is Rs.22 million and the balance funding has already has been approved by the Ministry of Finance.
Accelerated pavement testing and bitumen testing are at the forefront of current research needs in the field of highway engineering. Significant effort is given on improving our knowledge about the performance of roads and tests conducted in such labs contribute to a great extent to this cause.
With the laboratory enhancementÌýprogramme, the bitumen testing of the highway engineering lab will be shifted to the newÌýABTÌýlab and it is expected to improve the laboratory with Super-pave technology, a cutting edge technology for bitumen testing and asphalt mix design. This will be theÌý1stÌýlaboratory in south Asia with Super-pave technology.