K.P. Ignatius Udayaratna Dharmapala, P.E., F.ASCE, the CEO/director of the design division of the Walkers–CML Group, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Dharmapala began his career in 1978 as a civil engineer at the River Valleys Development Board, Sri Lanka, and served as a construction engineer, designs engineer, and senior project manager until 1985. He joined the RDC Ltd. as a consultant engineer in 1985 and served from then until 1994 in such capacities as assistant resident engineer and resident engineer. After this, he worked in State Development & Construction Corporation in the capacity of senior project manager. He was then attached to the CML-MTD Construction Ltd as DGM in 1994 and was appointed as general manager (construction & technical) in 2004. In 2013 he started serving as the general manager (project planning and designs) of the CML-MTD Construction Limited.
He was elected as a member of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) in 1983 and as fellow in 2001. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London in 1997 and as fellow in 2001. He was admitted as a member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia in 1991, becoming a fellow in 2005 and a registered professional engineer in 1994. He became a member ASCE in 1991 and of the Society of Structural Engineers, Sri Lanka in 1992. He is also a member of the Association of Consulting Engineers, Sri Lanka.
Dharmapala has functioned as a committee member of the Executive Committee of the Sri Lanka Association of Institution of Civil Engineers (SLAICE)–UK since 2008 and is its current chairman. He is also president of the ASCE Sri Lanka Section for the session 2023-24.
He was one of the representative members of the IESL in the Engineering Council of Sri Lanka (ECSL). He has been on the IESL Council from the 2014-15 session and was the president of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka for the session 2020-21. He was the Immediate Past President of the Council of the IESL for the session 2021-22, also holding the position for the session 2022-23.
Dharmapala graduated with a B.Sc. Engineering degree from the University of Peradeniya in 1979. He holds a Diploma in Commercial Arbitration obtained from the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law and Practice in 2012.
