President Maithripala Sirisena opened the new building of Automobile Engineering Training Institute at Orugodawatte, which comes under the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority yesterday. 

When the land acquired for the new bridge construction project over the Kelani river, the land of the Automobile Engineering Training Institute, Orugodawatte was also acquired.

Accordingly, the new building at the Automobile Engineering Training Institute, Orugodawatte was constructed at a cost of Rs. 1,540 million with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and it is capable of imparting training with state-of-the-art technology. The administrative and training units have an area of ​​8,000 square meters.

It is significant that the training equipment and machinery in work units of the old building were reinstalled in the new building without causing any damage and five new training machines to study modern technological methods were also installed. With the possibility to increase the student intake when in the future the institute will need more space and the new building has provisions to add 10 more floors.

The Automobile Engineering Training Institute, established in 1985 as a historic symbol of the friendship between Sri Lanka and Japan has continuously assisted in creating technicians to repair imported Japanese motor vehicles.

Minister Chandima Weerakkody, State Minister A. H. M. Fawzie, Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala, Deputy Minister Karunaratne Paranawithana, Mr. Prasanna Solangarachchi and the Secretary to the Ministry of Skill Development and Vocational Training P. Ranepura were among those who participated in this occasion.