2021. 11.1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.109
2021 JSCE Annual Meeting

International Roundtable Meeting

This year’s JSCE Annual Meeting was held online for five days from Monday, September 6 to Friday, September
10, 2021, at Tokai University Shonan Campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic that remains unabated since lastyear. The Research Discussion Sessions, The 76th Annual Confference, keynote lecture, special lecture, etc.
were streamed online, and an online International Roundtable Meeting, which could not be held last year, wasalso held to connect overseas participants and Tokai University, with interpreters employed to facilitate the event.
Under the theme of “Changing Society and Future Infrastructure,” Mr. Hiroaki Taniguchi (The 109th JSCEPresident), Dr. Sutanto Soehodho (Deputy Governor for Industry, Trade and Transportation, Jakarta, Indonesia),
Dr. Brett C. Phillips (former Governor of ASCE Region 10), Mr. Warren D. Ladbrook (ASCE Region 10), Prof.
Benito M. Pacheco (University of the Philippines Diliman), and Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Hoang Giang (Hanoi
University of Civil Engineering) participated online. While sharing the issues and challenges faced by eachcountry, the participants discussed the infrastructure development required for a society post the COVID-19pandemic.
Mr. Taniguchi said that in an age of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty, it is important to envision a “big1picture” that overlooks the whole of society from a longterm perspective. He explained that envisioning a “bigpicture” for the public and private sectors and the citizensof the country will help realize future infrastructure.
Dr. Phillips and Mr. Ladbrook explained infrastructure
management in Australia and New Zealand from agovernment level.
Prof. Soehodho spoke on the solicited project proposal andunsolicited project proposal of Indonesian public-private

Definition of the “Big Picture”

partnership (PPP) projects. According to Prof. Soehodho, in a PPP project, the public sector provides publicservices, the private sector invests in the project, and the public and private sectors both share the risks.
Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Hoang Giang introduced collaborative efforts between government and academia
regarding industrial waste treatment, which has become a problem due to greater urbanization in Vietnam.
Apparently, the aim is to shift to a recycling-oriented economy by formulating guidelines, tax measures, andboosting the market for recycled materials.
Prof. Pacheco said that the keys to infrastructure development in an uncertain future are collaboration acrossdisciplines, “foresight” that anticipates the next 10 to 30 years, and “future literacy” that preempts the future bycomparing the past and present.
With the impact of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, each country aims to establish a safe and secure society
by imagining what future society may be while also focusing firmly on the present moment. Civil engineers
who are responsible for this task are required to nurture their “foresight” and “future literacy” to preempt thefuture and continue to envision the big picture.

The Committee on Civil Engineering Informatics
The Committee on Civil Engineering Informatics, whose predecessor was the“Committee on Computer Utilization” established in 1974, has repeatedly changed its
name as IT has advanced, thus evolving into a committee that bears the words “CivilEngineering Informatics.” The Committee on Civil Engineering Informatics conducts
activities for the purpose of effectively using information in the civil engineering field
through research and promotion of issues in civil engineering informatics.
(1) Research by the Committee on Civil Engineering Informatics

Prof. Koji Makanae

The committee has set up eight research subcommittees to engage in the following efforts (Chair, Committee on
as areas to focus research over the mid-term: (1) Utilization of IT that contributes to2

Civil EngineeringInformatics)

safety and peace of mind, (2) Optimization of construction processes, (3) Accumulation and utilization ofinfrastructure information, (4) Construction of infrastructure monitoring and maintenance management systems,(5) Utilization of open infrastructure data and big data, (6) Contributions to intelligent transportation systems,(7) Research on advanced IT with the future in mind. In recent years, the adoption of BIM in the infrastructure
field has advanced internationally, and while the Government of Japan has taken the initiative in promoting
BIM/CIM in Japan, there are still many practical issues. Researchers and engineers from various positions gather
within this committee to discuss the utilization of BIM/CIM, solving issues, and plans for the future. Thecommittee is also actively engaged in research in the rapidly evolving areas of AI, IoT, open data, etc.

Priority Research Areas and Subcommittees(2) Support for Educational Development of Civil Engineering Information Processing
To utilize ICT in a more sophisticated manner in civil engineering projects, civil engineers themselves must
acquire knowledge and skills related to ICT. To encourage the studying of civil engineering informatics in theclassroom, the committee published “Civil Engineering Informatics - Basic Level -” as a textbook in 2017, andstarted offering online courses on JMOOC from 2019.
(3) Providing Opportunities for Academic Exchange
A civil engineering informatics symposium is held every fall as an opportunity for research presentations oncivil engineering informatics and exchanges between researchers and engineers. In 2021, while the event washeld online just like it had been the previous year, there were 87 presentations and lively discussions by3

participants. Furthermore, the Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers F3 Special Issue, which contains peerreviewed papers based on presentations at the symposium, is published every year.
Regarding international exchange,
the committee participates in theInternationalSocietyfor

Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering (ISCCBE), and in2017, the committee held theInternationalConferenceonComputing in Civil and Building
Engineering (ICCCBE) in Osaka.
In addition, the Japan Society ofCivil Engineers has led theestablishment of the Asian Civil

ICCBEI 2019（Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan）

Engineering Informatics Group,
and with the support of JACIC, it has held the International Conference on Civil and Building Engineering
Informatics (ICCBEI) every two years since 2013. The 4th ICCBEI conference in 2019 was held at Sendai
Mediatheque (Sendai City), and more than 100 researchers from 20 countries participated in lively discussions
and exchange. While the conference scheduled to be held in Hong Kong in 2021 is expected to be postponed to2023 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee will continue to support the promotion ofexchange between researchers mainly in Asia.

【Reported by Koji Makanae (Chair, the Committee on Civil Engineering Informatics】

Phase One of the Yangon Port Expansion Projectin the Thilawa Area
Myanmar: A Country undergoing Drastic Changes
A general election was held for the first time in 20 years in November 2010, and the shift from military todemocratic government was made in March 2011. The new economic policy invited large foreign investments,
and the Myanmar was called Asia’s Last Frontier. After the general election, NLD (National League forDemocracy) led by Aung San Suu Kyi took power in March 2016, and democracy in Myanmar was furtheraccelerated. However, due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 and the internal conflict andpolitical crisis in February 2021, Myanmar is now facing the difficult situations. Early return to normal life inMyanmar is awaited.

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Container handling volume at Yangon Port was rapidly increased from 0.35 million TEU in 2011 to 1.03 million
TEU in 2017. Thilawa SEZ with 2,400 hectares was first planned in the late 1980’s, and for the last 10 years theSEZ has been developed by Japanese PPP scheme. The Government of Japan provided support not only to port
facility but also in various sectors such as power development, supplying water, roads, bridges, and relocationof residents. In addition, MJTD (Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Limited) was set up with three Japanesetrading companies and a local company to take charge of the development and operation of the SEZ, which
established the logistic system and infrastructure for Japanese companies to move in.
Outline of This Project
As the port facility in Thilawa, short
construction period demanded by
rapid economic growth and antisedimentation measure for the river
port susceptible to high turbidity anda large range of tides were the urgent
issues. Furthermore, due to existenceof the Sagaing Fault that runs acrossthecountry

direction

inand

thenorth-south

thedevastating

Fabrication of Superstructure of Jacket Type Jetty

catastrophe caused by Cyclone Nargis
in May 2008, port in Thilawa wasexpected to be functioned as a disasterprevention facility.
The Project applied jacket structure to
the jetty and seismic isolation system
to the quayside gantry crane, which
are the examples of exporting theDrone Photo of Jacket Type Jetty Construction

high-quality Japanese infrastructures. The jacket method enables shortening of the construction period bycarrying out offshore and land constructions simultaneously, though high precision is required for manufacturing
the jacket superstructure and piling the steel pipe piles. The jacket jetty does not obstruct the river flow thanksto the less pile points, example of which is the Runway D of Haneda Airport situated at the mouth of theTamagawa River.
We vigorously hired and educated Myanmar staff as a part of technology transfer. These engineers are now
working as strong work forces in both Myanmar and outside. The Project was praised as not only high-quality
infrastructure but also thorough safety management. The Project completed without delay and major accidents.
Furthermore, we believe that visits by a wide range of people from the public and private sectors, such as many
senior officials including ministers and deputy ministers of both Japan and Myanmar, individuals of privatecompanies, and university professors and students, also contributed to raising awareness of the project as aJapanese project. We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to everyone involved in the Project.

5With Myanmar Staff【Reported by Kentaro Kimura (Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.)】

2021 ASCE Bridge Photo Contest
It is a great news! Ms. Kumiko Yoshii ofAdvancedConstruction

TechnologyCenter (ACTEC) won the second place inthe category All Bridges of 2021 ASCEBridgePhotoContest.

ASCEhasrecognized amazing photos of bridges insome categories since 2013. It is the 9thcontest this year; 425 entries were madeand 175 photos out of those entries weresubmitted to the All Bridges. Ms. Yoshii’s
photo “Ootaki Bridge” won the second

Second Place Ootaki Bridge
Photographer: Kumiko Yoshii

place in that category, which has only the first and second places.

It is the very first time that aJapanese photographer was recognized in the nine-year history of the award.
Congratulations, Ms. Yoshii.
2021 ASCE Bridge Photo Contest: https://woobox.com/7p2r7v【Reported by Hiroshi Dobashi, JSCE Fellow, President, ASCE Japan Section】

6Updates◆Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.19(November 9)https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/234◆【YouTube Video】FY2021 Int'l Roundtable Meeting “Changing Society and Future Infrastructure”
・English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDrr5zqJ4c8
・Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5ScjsHwKo◆【YouTube Video】JSCE- Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University Joint Seminarhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMK-6E33lzQ◆Japan's Infrastructure Grades 2020 & Introduction of Maintenance Technologies
https://www.jsce-int.org/node/733◆Japan Construction International Award
https://www.mlit.go.jp/JCIA/en/◆31 CONGRESO NACIONAL DE INGENIERIA CIVIL
https://congresocicm.com/en/◆American Society of Civil Engineers（ASCE）
・International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure（December, 2021）
http://app.message.asce.org/e/es?s=1360&e=713080&elqTrackId=f2b02296aa9c4f699603ed9d506586f4&el
q=5dbc17091cf64c9faaaae1d65ba9cab2&elqaid=26738&elqat=1
・ASCE Lifeline Conference 2021 2022
Dates updated: Jan 31-Feb 4, 2022
https://samueli.ucla.edu/lifelines2021/
・Joint Japan-US Symposium on Assessment, Management, and Governance for Infrastructure Resilience*Pre-recorded Presentation Available on the Website.
https://www.infraresil.jp/event/01/◆The International Infrastructure Archives– A Compilation of Japan’s Greatest Projects in Transfer of Civil Engineering Technology in Service –http://www.jsce.or.jp/e/archive/◆IAC “News Pick Up!!” on the JSCE Japanese website
https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/iac_dayori_2021◆Summary of featured articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 106, No.11 November 2021
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE
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