Solo – PT Hutama Karya Infrastruktur (HKI) has entered into a collaboration with Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret (UNS) covering research, education, and human resource (HR) development. The collaboration was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Friday, November 26, 2021.
The MOU signing ceremony was held at the Faculty of Engineering, UNS, Solo, and was attended by President Director of HKI Aji Prasetyanti and UNS Vice Rector for Planning, Cooperation, Business, and Information, Prof. Dr.rer.nat Sajidan M.Si. Also present at the event were the academic staff of the Faculty of Engineering UNS, Head of the Engineering Department at HKI Mutiar Warman, and HKI Corporate Secretary Rian Hari Anggoro.
Aji explained that the collaboration between HKI and UNS is a necessary step to foster innovation in infrastructure development, particularly in strengthening structures for toll roads and supporting works. "While we typically collaborate with consultants, this time we are working with an educational institution for research on our field's innovation needs. We believe this partnership will yield positive results, as educational institutions like UNS already have expert staff and extensive field research experience," said Aji after the MOU signing.
This MOU marks the beginning of future research initiatives to be developed together. The scope of the collaboration between HKI and UNS also includes education, community service, and human resource development. It is hoped that the partnership will foster more innovations to improve the quality of HKI’s fieldwork and enhance the quality of human resources at both HKI and UNS.
As an initial outcome of the MOU, HKI and UNS agreed to conduct research on concrete pavement using steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) and soil improvement innovations. Steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) is concrete that incorporates steel fibers, which improve concrete quality by enhancing impact resistance, increasing flexural strength, and improving shear strength of fiber concrete beams. The objective of the SFRC research is to find methods to reduce the thickness of rigid pavement concrete from the typical 30 cm to 25-28 cm while maintaining the same quality, thus resulting in cost savings in toll road construction. The soil improvement research will focus on using additives or other treatments to enhance soil bearing capacity.
