Lanka’s LHI completes 2nd coastal protection consultancy in France
Sri Lankan engineering consultancy company, Lanka Hydraulic Institute Ltd (LHI) recently completed a coastal rehabilitation project in Bormes les Memosas, Southern France.
LHI has been serving international markets for over three decades and its work saw Corinthe Ingenierie, a renowned French engineering consultancy company, commission LHI for the rehabilitation work.
This project comes soon after the completion of a fully- fledged commercial fishery harbour in Sidi Ladjel, Algeria. The project is also the second coastal stabilisation work received from France after LHI’s famous beach restoration project in Cannes in 2013, LHI said in a media release.
Port of Bormes les Memosas experienced damages to its breakwater from extreme Mediterranean waves, needing a large scale structural revamp. The project team investigated applicability of the latest and most eco- friendly ECOPODE concrete armour units on the breakwater slope under extreme wave conditions via conducting a series of physical model tests at LHI’s hydraulic modeling laboratory. “A larger emphasis was placed over assuring structural and public safety from raging waves of return periods up to 100 years. As stated by Dr. Sanjeewa Wickramaratne, senior engineering manager of LHI, this work is a fine example of Sri Lankan expertise being fruitfully utilized in foreign soils,” the release said.
The company maintains a state-ofthe- art hydraulics laboratory with capabilities in engineering design, field measurements, physical/ mathematical modeling; and carries out consultancy work for both domestic as well as overseas clients in West Asia, Southeast Asian, East Asian, African and European Regions. During its 34 years long journey, LHI has contributed enormously to the coastal and water sector with more than 400 consultancy projects completed worldwide.
A significant feature of LHI is that all projects are handled in- house using Sri Lankan expertise. Key project staff consists of five PhD and five MSc qualified senior engineers having ample international and local experience, backed with a technically proficient supportive staff. LHI undertook 20 major projects last fiscal year including 2D ( Flume) physical modeling for coastal protection in Fujairah, UAE, and a coastal engineering study for K. Bolidhuffaru Resort Development Project, Maldives. Top local projects include feasibility study and detailed engineering designs of Myliddy fishery harbour in Jaffna and anchorages at Dehiwala, Balapitiya, Rekawa and Mawella. Helping out Coast Conservation Department, LHI also completed a detailed bathymetric survey and a sand properties study from Mount Lavinia to Galle. In addition, the company offered its numerical modeling expertise for the development of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Colombo, and a tourism and recreation development project attached to Dedduwa Lake.