Thirty-Eigth Annual Meeting – Bangkok 2012
The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association held its thirty-eighth meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, from 18 to 24 May 2012, in conjunction with the World Tunnel Congress 2012 "Tunnelling and Underground Space for a Global Society" organised by ITA, the Thailand Underground and Tunnelling Group (TUTG) and the Engineering Institute of Thailand under His Majesty the King's Patronage (EIT). More than 1300 persons participated to the Congress. 53 of the 68 Member Nations participated or were represented in the General Assembly, including 5 proxies.
MEMBER NATIONS PRESENT OR REPRESENTED
South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Republic of Korea, Costa-Rica, Croatia, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Spain, United States of America, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Macedonia (FYROM), Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, United Kingdom, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Thailand, Ukraine.
MEMBER NATIONS NOT PRESENT
Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lao DPR, Lesotho, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam.
MEMBERSHIP
The Association has registered the membership of four new Member Nations: Costa-Rica, Ecuador, Macedonia (FYROM) and Myanmar, and 15 new Affiliate Members (12 Corporate Members and 3 Individual Members); the total results to 68 Member Nations and 305 Affiliate Members (190 Corporate Members and 115 Individual Members) taking into account some resignations. Three companies became Prime Sponsors (Total: 15) and 6 became Supporters (total: 23).
NEXT ANNUAL MEETINGS
- Geneva, Switzerland, from 31 May to 5 June 2013, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2013 "Underground – the way to the future".
- Iguazu Falls, Brazil, from 9 to 15 May, 2014, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2014 "Tunnels for Better Living".
- Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 22 to 28 May 2015, during the ITA-AITES WTC 2015 “Promoting Tunnelling in South East European Region”.
SUMMARY OF REPORT OF ACTIVITY OF ITA – April 2010 to March 2011
Executive council
The Executive Council held 4 plenary meetings and carried out its traditional activities in taking into account the conclusions the conclusions of the Auditor’s report, notably to increase the number of Member Nations and to take care of the relationship with the new Member Nations. He prepared the modifications of the Statutes and By-laws that have been accepted by the General Assembly in Bangkok, and worked for the development of the membership concerning as well member nations and industry. The Executive Council prepared a video for promoting the tunnelling industry in Universities and for young engineers. This video has been presented at the General Assembly in Bangkok.
Relation with the member nations and development of the contacts
The Executive Council pursued the development of its relations with the Member Nations in visiting, participating and granting meetings or events organised by 28 Member Nations. It presented ITA at various congresses and meetings in several countries not ITA members yet.
The contacts with the International Sister Associations PIARC, ISRM, ISSMGE, IRF, IFME, ISOCARP, ICLEI and ACUUS were pursued.
Development of the prime sponsors and supporters
Actions with the Prime Sponsors and the Supporters were undertaken notably through the ITA Committee on technologies, ITAtech, in which most of Prime Sponsors and Supporters are very active. New companies joined the ITA family and became Supporters or Prime Sponsors.
Relations with the UN, the World Bank and the European union
In 2011, the relationship with the United Nations and specifically with UN-ISDR have been strengthened with the participation of the UN-ISDR Deputy Director in the Open Session in Helsinki and with the preparation of several White papers for UN ISDR.
In March 2012, ITA participated in a training seminar organized by the World Bank in Washington DC. This cooperation is due to be pursued notably for the use of underground space in Hydro Power projects.
PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATION
ita@news:
5 issues of the ita@news have been published this year and distributed to about 8’000 subscribers. ITA would like very much to have feedback of regular readers.
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology (TUST):
ITA Members have access an electronic version of TUST (including archives).
Website:
The number of distinct visitors is around 5 800 from 130 countries per month. The average time of a visit is 10 minutes. The ITA web site on Why go underground, How to go underground, Use of underground space is now available in English, French and Spanish. This web site is intended to give answer to general public and decision makers.
ITA – Reports:
5 reports have been published : “Control and Monitoring” (WG2), “Guidance on the safe use of temporary ventilation ducting in Tunnels” (WG5), “Guidelines for good working practice in high pressure compressed air” (WG5), “An owners guide to immersed tunnels” (WG11), “Report on underground solutions for urban problems” (WG20).
Press:
In 2011-2012, ITA has participated directly or indirectly to articles published in technical newspapers or magazines of information such as World Tunnelling (UK), Tunnelling Journal (UK), and Tunnel Talk (USA). ITA is now working with a press agency and a press kit has been released.
Video:
A video has been produced to promote the tunnelling industry to students and young engineers.
Social networks:
the ITA group in the social network LinkedIn is very active. There are nearly 1500 members in this group.