Be proud of past engineering records, Lankans told

by Edward Arambewala

Sri Lankans should be proud of the past engineering record as no other country had engineering skills to build massive constructions, said Engineer Jayantha Ranatunga, President of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka.

"The Lova Mahapaya, Abhayagiriya, Ruwanweliseya and irrigation schemes like Tissa Wewa and Jaya Ganga were built by our ancestors. These constructions had been built about 2500 years ago by our kings with human labour, and not with machinery, be done now," he told a press briefing on the Institute's centenary celebrations programme scheduled for Friday at the BMICH.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake will be the Chief Guest.

He said as engineers they were proud of their past. Acknowledging that vast advancements had taken place in their profession in the modern era, he said engineers are not second to any of their counterparts in the developed world.

Ranatunga welcomed President Mahinda Rajapakse's declared policy that even in foreign funded projects our engineers should take the lead.

"This is the kind of national thinking we lacked in this country from the top hierarchy, and that to some extent retarded our national growth and development in the proper way benefitting the people. We are glad that it seems to be emerging from the proper quarters now," he said.

Ranatunga said the Institution which began in 1906 with 77 members today has a membership of 10,000. The Head of the State has been functioning as the patron of the Institute from the beginning.

The Institute has set up six Provincial Centres in Kandy, Kurunegala, Galle, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura and Jaffna.