An exciting new project entitled ‘Asset Management Software Development, Implementation and Training,’ funded by the Asian Development Bank under the Local Government Enhancement Sector project, is building capacity in Sri Lankan Local Governments, in optimised management of community infrastructure. 

The asset types covered under the project include buildings, roads, bridges, drainage, land, vehicles and equipment, streetlights, water supply schemes and solid waste management facilities, all managed by the local councils in Sri Lanka. The project is led by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Melbourne, Australia.

The concept of the project was formulated when H.T. Kamal Pathmasiri, the Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government of Sri Lanka, visited Australia on a study tour coordinated by Prasanna Gamage, the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Melbourne. 

Pathmasiri visited a number of local councils in Australia and the RMIT University and observed the advances made in the practice through the RMIT University and local council collaborations in Melbourne. Pathmasiri and Gamage were very keen to transfer the knowledge from Australian practice to Sri Lanka.

The project will implement the tools and technologies developed by RMIT University, currently implemented by a number of local councils in Australia, including City of Melbourne, in Sri Lankan councils. The project team, led by Professor Sujeeva Setunge, Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) and Head/Civil Engineering of RMIT, has created the base asset management software platform entitled “Central Asset Management System” (CAMS), developed with the support from Australian Government, Municipal Association of Victoria, VicRoads and eight local councils. 

The system developed had input from urban and rural councils as well as seven regions of VicRoads and therefore is adaptable to deliver the best appropriate practice for any selected council in Sri Lanka.

The pilot project has successfully been commenced in Sri Lanka in the Pradeshiya Sabhas of Kundasale, Galendindunuwewa, Bingiriya, Bentota, Ruwanwella, Haldummulla and Panadura. The RMIT team and the infrastructure asset manager from the City of Brimbank, Melbourne, Dominic Di Martino, visited the seven Pradeshiya Sabhas and conducted several workshops on asset management, demonstrated the software platform, captured current practices, confirmed the assets to be covered, identified available data on asset inventories and developed a plan for delivering the project on time. The project will capture all the asset inventories, collect the current condition of all assets and deploy the fully populated software platform to the local councils by the end of 2019. 

The project also offers an excellent opportunity to develop research capabilities at the University of Moratuwa in the field of infrastructure asset management, through a joint doctoral research project between RMIT University and the University of Moratuwa. 

Vajira Wickramasinghe, a doctoral student from Moratuwa University, has already started his Ph.D. research on this subject, under the supervision of Prof. Sujeeva Setunge and Prof. Priyan Dias of RMIT University. Further, the undergraduate students of the University of Moratuwa will be engaged and trained in data collection for the project in the future.