From left: Ruhunu Cement Works Plant Manager Engineer Chinthaka Thuduwewatta, Engineering Services Southern Province Deputy Chief Secretary Engineer Wickramage, Chief Secretary Southern Province R.C. De Soyza, INSEE Cement Chairman/CEO Nandana Ekanayake, INSEE Cement Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing and Innovation Jan Kunigk, INSEE Cement Head of External Affairs and Channel Development Chandana Nanayakkara and INSEE Cement Head of Marketing Gayani Perera 

With the intention of implementing its highly successful skills development programme for technical officers (TOs) and engineers across the nation, INSEE Cement Sri Lanka signed two memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with the Southern Provincial Council.

The MoUs were exchanged between Southern Province Chief Secretary R.C. De Soyza and INSEE Cement Chairman/CEO Nandana Ekanayake. Provincial deputy chief secretaries, directors, chief engineers, engineers and technical officers were also present during the landmark event.

This is the first province to sign the second phase of the technical officer (TO) programme and conduct continuous professional development (CPD) for provincial engineers. In partnership with the Southern Province Chief Secretarial Office, INSEE aims to facilitate training sessions for 350 TOs and 55 provincial engineers for a year. 
“INSEE Cement is excited to extend the skills development programme to the TOs working in the Southern province. The region shows enormous potential for infrastructure and urban development,” stated Ekenayake.
“As we move forward, it is imperative that we strengthen the foundation of the local industry. Our responsibility, as industry leaders, is to ensure all our stakeholders move together in the same direction and contribute towards this accelerated progress and evolution of the local construction industry.”

The skills development programme is designed to enhance local construction industry standards through upskilling and increasing the knowledge base of the engineers and officers in the fields of government procurement, quality control of construction material, types of testing, construction management, safety, cement and concrete usage, along with green 
building codes.