Preparations for the World Tunnel Congress (WTC) and 46th ITA General Assembly 2020 in Kuala Lumpur are in full swing at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). “Registration should be made as soon as possible due to the early bird offer (that is, before 1 December 2019) and the high demand,“ recommends WTC2020 Organising Chairman Ir. Dr Teik Aun Ooi.
The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia, will welcome more than 2,000 participants from all walks of the tunnelling and underground development space. The Congress will include lectures, technical sessions, committee and working group meetings, site and technical visits, brief excursions, and much more.
Figure 1: Handover of the ITA Flag to Malaysia as the host country for WTC 2020: Ir. Dr Teik Aun Ooi (Organising Chairman, right), Ir. David Kong Phooi Lai (IEM President, left) and Anna Ceppaluni (Honorary Consul of Malaysia in Italy) receiving the ITA flag from Andrea Pigorini (SIG Praesident) in Naples, Italy, on Wednesday, 8 May 2019 (Credit: An exhibition space will see over 200 participating companies from all over the world, and will underline Malaysia´s position as a tunnelling and underground development technological hub in Southeast Asia.
The fully packed week will start with an ITACET training course. Addressing especially young tunnellers, prominent tunnelling experts from all over the world will share their experiences. Over 15 technical presentations on “Innovations in Tunnelling - Geotechnical Engineering and Project Management“ will give insights in five different main fields of tunnelling and underground space development, along with sessions for discussion and networking with the worldwide recognised experts, General Assembly and Working Group meetings, with the closing ceremony as the finale of the WTC2020 followed by handover of the ITA flag to the next host country Denmark for WTC2021.
Overview of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) with nearby hotels and the Petronas Towers (Credit: Tourism Malaysia)Different site and technical visits will be held during and after the Congress such as the SMART Tunnel, Tunnelling Training Academy, Underground works at both KVMRT Line 2 and Line 3 which are outstanding tunnel engineering achievements, first of its kind training centre and ongoing tunnelling projects, respectively, and a technical visit to either the ongoing East Coast Rail Link or the completed Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Tunnel.
Several programmes open to accompanying persons to explore the beauty of Malaysia before or after the congress are also in place. The WTC2020 in Kuala Lumpur falls during the month of Ramadan which is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the uniqueness of Buka Puasa (Breaking of Fast) in KLCC itself. The WTC2020 programme for business as well as for leisure is set to become a lasting memory for all participants.
Petronas Towers close to the WTC 2020 venue Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) (Credit: Tourism Malaysia)Further details available at www.wtc2020.my
