Date: 5th September, 2013
Venue: Regal Kowloon Hotel

The 10th Anniversary Dinner of Hong Kong Institute of Utility Specialists cum Graduation Ceremony Diploma on Utility Survey 2013 was successfully held on 5th September at the Regal Kowloon Hotel. More than 200 industry professionals attended the banquet and we invited Ir WAI Chi-shing JP to be our guest of honor.

Our president, Ir Dr. King Wong, delivered a 5-minute welcome speech. He welcomed and thanked all guests for coming, he said that he believed we would have a better next 10 years and HKIUS would keep striving to promote services, knowledge and practices of underground utility survey.

Afterward the guest of honor, Ir WAI Chi-shing JP, delivered a speech as well. He appreciated the invitation for the officiating guest. He shared about the utility survey industry in Hong Kong and how the government developed the underground utilities in the past and even in the future. He also commended the establishment of HKIUS was a great contribution to the utility industry. He wished the institute more and more successful in the years to come.

The graduation ceremony started at 8:00pm. Ir WAI Chi-shing, together with Ir Dr. King Wong, Ir Jim Ko, Ir Thomson Cheung, Prof. Louis Lock, presented a certificate to our graduates. One of the graduates, Mr. CHEUNG Pui-leung, shared his story to our guests. He explained why he chose utility industry and what his expectation was. He said that he used to work for a lot of industries but he could not see his future until he entered the utility survey industry. He thought that it would be a sustainable industry in Hong Kong, a developed city. The protection of underground utilities would be more and more important in the future. He also mentioned he started working at BUDA (One of the company members of HKIUS) since 2008. In those years, he was not only learning technical skills, but also management. At the beginning, he learnt how to manage his time and work until now, he is learning how to manage his team as he became a team leader. At the end of the speech, he thanked HKIUS for giving him a good opportunity to share.

During the dinner, Ir Dr. King Wong had a sharing. He recalled the development of HKIUS in the past ten years. He said that it was not easy to step into the tenth year. The establishment of HKIUS was all up to the dedications and supports from different parties, he was grateful to Ir Ku’s contribution to the institute and the utility survey industry. He pointed out two examples for explaining what the situations of HKIUS in the past and nowadays are. He said that the utility industry used to like muddy water because of data integrity was in doubt with lots of straight lines, utilities were turning everywhere, many clients complained about survey accuracy and pretended professionals. Also, the utility surveyors were not respected and they seemed a pile of flour, like something was dropped on the flour, the flour was exploded all around. But now, the muddy water is filtered by time passes. The impurities in the water are sunk and the water is being clean like HKIUS can show its professionalism through time. Also, the water have been added into the flour and the flour have become dough, it meant our utility specialists in HKIUS were finally united.

At the same time, Ir Dr. King Wong announced the HKIUS – Damien Ku Scholarship was established. The scholarship would grant HK$50,000.00 each year for local collages in order to encourage those students who were interested in utility survey industry. He thanked Ir Ku’s family agreed to establish the scholarship for training more talents in Hong Kong. A certificate of the scholarship establishment was presented to Mrs. Phyllis KU, and she appreciated what HKIUS had done for Ir Damien Ku. Ir Dr. King Wong wished all graduates would practice what they have learnt and to devote their professionalism in the society as well.

One of our council members, Ms. Pinky Lee, who had graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, had a sharing about how she put what she had learnt into practice. She firstly introduced The Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), which was her major. Secondly she talked about her final year project, practice training and her summer internship in UtilityINFO limited. She also shared her 1 week technical trip to Germany in June. She hoped that she would have more chances to share her experiences to all next time.