INFRAMA organizes first Road Asset Management Congress (KZID) in Poland

From 4-5 December 2019, the Infrastructure Asset Management Academy (INFRAMA) of the Heller Group, together with the Polish Road Congress (PKD), organized the first Road Asset Management Congress (KZID) in Warsaw. The significance of this congress is reflected by the fact that among the more than 100 participants were prominent guests, such as the President of the World Road Association PIARC, Prof. Claude Van Rooten, or the General Director of the Polish National Road Administration GDDKiA, Tomasz Żuchowski.

Dr. Sławomir Heller (INFRAMA)

After the official welcome by Mr. Zbigniew Kotlarek, President of the Polish Road Congress, and the opening speech by Dr. Slawomir Heller, founder of INFRAMA, the honorary guests, Prof. Claude Van Rooten and Tomasz Żuchowski, gave their presentations.

Subsequently, a total of 13 lectures on topics from the entire spectrum of asset management were held in three sessions. The main goal of these relatively short contributions was to initiate the discussions at the end of each session. These extremely lively and engaging debates of 30 to 40 minutes each were moderated by Heller Group employees. At the end of the first day of the event, there was a short performance entitled: Who owns the road? During this, the representatives of three stakeholders - a politician, an engineer and a "simple" road user - exchanged their views on the subject of asset management. This entertaining role play was very well received by the audience.

The second day of the congress was dedicated to practical workshops. The participants had the choice between the four topics: maintenance planning, risk management, condition assessment and road safety. The workshops were prepared by INFRAMA in cooperation with well-known companies such as PwC, TPA, ITS and IBDiM. The participants were divided into smaller groups of four to five people each to take part in various business games.

Such interactive workshops are based on internationally accepted educational methods and have been part of INFRAMA's repertoire for a long time. However, it was the first time that INFRAMA representatives were confronted with such a broad and heterogeneous group of participants as during the congress. That is why the throughout positive feedback on all workshops, which could be gathered from the evaluation forms, is appreciated even more. Without exception, all participants were in favor of continuing the congress in the same format next year.

Zbigniew Kotlarek (PKD) opens KZID
Dr. Sławomir Heller (INFRAMA) during his opening speech
Tomasz Żuchowski, Director General of National Roads
PIARC President Prof. Claude Van Rooten
Tomasz Żuchowski gives Prof. Claude Van Rooten a replica of the historical map of Poland
Dr. Agata Ciołkosz-Styk (INFRAMA) moderates the sessions of the congress
Participants during the debate
Contribution to the discussion by Prof. Wojciech Suchorzewski (University of Warsaw)
Contribution to the discussion by Dr. Jürgen Krieger (BASt/PIARC)
Who owns the road? Aleksandra Cybulska (PKD/PIARC) as road user, Dr. Aleksander Zborowski (TPA) as engineer and Dr. Karol Opara (INFRAMA) as politician
Award for Dr. Heller for his contributions to the dissemination of asset management by Zbigniew Tabor
Workshop risk management
Workshop maintenance planning
Workshop traffic safety
Workshop condition assessment