News Detail

Asia's Emerging Infrastructure Relies on Concrete

8/1/2001

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Asia with Dick Stehly, chairman of ACI’s new International Committee, and Bill Tolley, ACI’s senior managing director of operations. The purpose of our trip was to exchange technical information and to examine ways to expand ACI’s working relationship with international chapters. Our tour included five cities throughout Asia, where we enjoyed first-rate hospitality and gained cultural insights.

Our presentation topics had been selected by the chapters we visited. I spoke about the advantages of pumping concrete and gave an overview of industrial superflat floor construction. Dick Stehly gave three very interesting talks on admixtures, alkali-silica reaction, and concrete problems/solutions. For the "prob/sol" talk, Dick utilized what he calls his "box of rocks" with samples of concrete, showing different problems such as scaling, cracking, blistering, and popping. Bill Tolley gave a presentation on the global role of ACI.

The needs of these emerging countries are huge, and concrete is the predominant building material. These two factors combine to create a situation where knowledge from ACI can really help. A wide range of technical capability is being harnessed for massive infrastructure projects, housing projects, and industrial projects. Construction of desperately needed buildings, roads, and facilities is underway and will continue long into the future.

I kept a travel journal during this educational adventure, and I’d like to share with you highlights from the experiences I had and the people I met. I was inspired by their eagerness and desire to learn, grow, and develop to meet the challenges they face.

Hong Kong — Our expedition began in Hong Kong. We arrived almost a day after leaving ACI headquarters near Detroit. We gave our presentations at the beautiful Hong Kong Convention Center to an audience of enthusiastic and interested people, which included consulting engineers, professors, contractors, and students. The Hong Kong participants were very excited about starting a chapter in the near future. It was a great kick- off for the tour to provide the backdrop for the beginning of a new chapter. The evening ended with a display of Hong Kong hospitality and an elaborate and enjoyable traditional dinner.

We continued our Hong Kong visit with a morning tour of the city led by Dr. Li and Dr. Christofer. Hong Kong was truly a concrete jungle. We saw many interesting sites, including the longest suspension bridge in the world. We noticed that shotcrete is used all over the hillsides of Hong Kong for slope protection. We observed many new, beautiful, and impressively constructed facilities including over 180,000 housing units, a new airport, highways, and subway construction. A unique factor in many projects included bamboo scaffolding for debris protection 50 to 60 stories high.

Our last stop was a visit to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The university’s innovative lab was working on composite testing for repairs, corrosion due to seawater, extruded wall panels using a fly-ash binder, optical crack sensors, and other innovative projects. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our Hong Kong experience.

Singapore — We arrived in Singapore the following day. I helped some local finishers with a slab placement, mixed some concrete, and struck off and finished a base slab repair, becoming the first ACI President to finish concrete in Singapore. We saw a very busy, clean city with many new, 50- to 60- story concrete buildings under construction and many restoration projects underway. Small, older apartments were being replaced with new high-rise apartment buildings. New construction also included an airport and a subway line.

Next, we visited the National University of Singapore, where we presented talks to the ACI chapter and many students.

Kuala Lumpur — Our talks to the chapter in Kuala Lumpur went very well. Many students, professors, engineers, and several contractors attended this session. A flooring contractor said that his company owned a Somero laser screed and numerous other pieces of modern concrete construction equipment.

Kuala Lumpur boasts many high rises, including the tallest concrete building in the world, the Petronas Towers, 1263 ft (385 m) tall and totally constructed with pumped concrete. The city also contained numerous industrial projects featuring superflat flooring. They recently constructed a major subway-sleigh-rail system, which has helped traffic problems immensely. Again, we observed another relatively new airport and highway system, and a new rail line to the airport.

Bangkok — Construction had almost come to a halt due to an economic slowdown in Bangkok. We observed many high-rise buildings that were half finished, still surrounded by tower cranes and placing booms. Re-steel was sticking up in the air with no forms for the next level. Although new construction was scarce, the people were very interested in innovation and creativity in problems/solutions for concrete construction and had ideas on how to form, place, and finish concrete very economically. Our talks in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University were well received. Once again, we enjoyed outstanding hospitality.

Bombay — Our last stop was Bombay, where we visited ACI’s largest chapter, the Maharashtra India Chapter. We had a fine turnout for our presentations. The thirst for knowledge and the willingness to share knowledge was very evident. We presented the chapter with a banner for the 2000 Excellent Chapter award.

The chapter was extremely excited about our visit and proud to have us tour interesting construction sites. We learned of a monumental program of new and expanded concrete roads that has been underway for the past 4 years. This program will include construction of approximately 55 "flyovers" (overpasses), most of these being already completed.

The chapter is very active and owns its own headquarters building. I had the unique honor of being the first ACI President to visit their office, which contains a training school for 70 students. We discussed a joint collaboration for a conference during ACI’s Centennial in 2004.

It was encouraging to see that concrete is obviously the material of choice in most of Asia. I was very impressed with the friendliness of the chapter members, their desire to learn new technologies, and their overall interactiveness during our presentations. The incredible hospitality and the once-in-a-lifetime adventure to very exotic locales will always be a wonderful memory. I have returned home with many new friends in faraway places and I have to ask myself, "How can the rest of my term be any better than this?!"

Daniel L. Baker,
President,
American Concrete Institute