The World Tunnel Congress has moved its annual show back to September this year, due to the ongoing concerns around the coronavirus.
Initially planned for the 15 to 21 May in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, organisers have made the difficult decision to reschedule for the second week in September as COVID-19 continues to spread across the Asia-Pacific and further afield.
The World Health Organisation’s guidelines recommend limiting mass gatherings as the situation continues to evolve it was decided to rebook the congress venue for 11 to 17 September 2020.
“The health and safety of our colleagues are of the utmost importance to the ITA and IEM (the Malaysian Tunnelling Technical Group – ITA Member Nation in Malaysia)”, said ITA- AITES WTC 2020 organising chairman Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun.
“The WTC 2020 Organizing Committee, in cooperation with ITA, Sponsors, Exhibitors, lecturers, reviewers, ITA Member Nations, ITA Working Groups and Committees have been working hard during the last three years to bring everybody a successful World Tunnel Congress.
“But after considering various possibilities, the development of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Asia-Pacific and as well as in Europe and other parts of the world leads us to shift the date of the WTC and associated events from15-21 May 2020 to 11-17 September 2020.
“We know that, for some of you, this change of date may not be ideal; however, it seemed to us the best solution to be able to organize this major event for the entire tunnelling industry.”
Organisers have pledged to support delegates who need to change flight and hotel bookings with relevant documents that could smooth the process.
