Practice for Continuous Effect of Technology Transfer in Bridge Maintenance and Management

As part of international cooperation efforts by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Japan has implemented technical cooperation projects for bridge maintenance and management in several countries. The authors conducted technology transfer for bridge inspection and repair in technical cooperation projects in Egypt and the Philippines. This paper describes the past shortcomings and future support methods required based on these efforts as well as maintenance efforts in Japan. At the organizational level, we examined goals and strategies for fostering “effective ownership” and the nature of the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Action) cycle, including effectiveness measurement. At the individual engineer level, we examined the need to accumulate and pass on experience. Through these studies, the sustainable management cycle was examined. As a result, the studies identify the importance of flexibility in project monitoring and revision. It is necessary to determine the evaluation period based on actual achievement rather than time constraints. Besides, it is important to elastically reconsider indicators even at higher levels as well as effective countermeasures.