REGIONAL REPORT DFI of India DFI of India (DFII) has just celebrated its fifth year as a regional chapter. We thank the team at DFI headquarters and the DFII membership, whose support has made this possible. With the full-time office of DFI of India established, we are taking steps to build a framework that provides opportunities to a larger number of stakeholders to get involved in DFII activities that benefit the Indian deep foundations industry and support the vision and mission of DFII. Training Programs One of the main objectives of DFII is to build the required infrastructure to provide training programs in specialized areas to cater to professionals and workers in the deep foundations industry. A working committee is being formed to assess the availability and current skill levels of geotechnical professionals, engineers, supervisors and rig operators, and to identify the gaps in skill levels that are impacting the performance of the Indian deep foundations industry. This team will endeavour to assess the needs to bridge the current gap and to build the required skill base to address future needs with reference to best practices at the global during DFI-India 2018: 8 Conference on Deep Foundation Technologies for Infra- DFI of India Website DFI of India has launched an India- centric version of the DFI website at www.dfi-india.org. The site features events and news of interest to DFI of India members; a list of DFI of India members; and information on the regional chapter, its mission, executive committee and initiatives. There is also general DFI info on publications, awards, membership and more. level. There will be panel discussions th structure Development in India, November 15-17, 2018, to generate awareness about this serious issue and to build con- sensus among industry stake- holders about the necessity of developing and incorporating training programs to develop the necessary skills . The conference is a platform to present and deliberate case studies and the challenges facing India’s infrastructure projects as related to geotechnical works. Presentations will showcase proactive solutions that optimize performance of deep foundations on various infrastructure projects by achieving enhanced time and cost efficiency, higher quality and safety. The technical program is of interest to owners, contractors, government repre- sentatives, designers, consultants and educators involved in geotechnical design and construction. You can register for the event at www.dfi-india2018.org. Metro Rail Projects DFII had an opportunity to work with Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), a government organization for developing guidelines, training programs and work- shops that help in mitigating various risks associated with geotechnical and founda- tion engineering design and construction. Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna DFI of India Chair [email protected] DFII is envisioning conducting a workshop in September at Chennai with panel discussions to hear the view points and concerns of owners, contractors and domain experts about metro rail project implementation in India. Making use of this forum, DFII intends to promote the holistic approach in handling the geotechnical scope of metro rail projects that will mitigate risk of many contractual issues to a major extent. CFA Pile Technology Initiative DFII’s continuous flight auger (CFA) test pile project implementation is going smoothly. Thanks to the team effort of the CFA pile committee members, the design and construction document is completed and is being reviewed by the DFI team in the U.S. The project is funded through the DFI Committee Project Fund. DFII is also getting good response for its request for in- kind contributions for implementation of this project, and is hopeful to complete the installation and testing of six piles by the end of 2018. Join DFI of India DFII is expecting an increased level of activities, and encourages more pro- fessionals to join this important forum, participate in different working commit- tees and help the Indian deep foundations industry. We are grateful to DFI for collaborating with us over the past five years to help build DFI of India. We are confident that DFII will evolve as one of the finest professional institutes in India in the years to come. Join at www.dfi-india.org. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2018 •61
