CIDC bestows ‘Industry Doyen’ status to anti-corrosion expert Dr S. K. Manjrekar

Dr S. K. Manjrekar, Chairman and Managing Director of Sunanda Speciality Coatings Pvt. Ltd., has been honored with the ‘Industry Doyen’ award by the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) at a function in New Delhi recently.

The CIDC’s highest national honor was conferred on Dr Manjrekar as a fitting recognition of his 40-year long crusade in the Indian and global construction Industry, particularly in the field of technology and knowledge dissemination, technology transfer, research and development efforts and skills improvement initiatives.

CIDC was established by the Government of India and the construction industry. It launched the Annual CIDC Vishwakarma Awards, a truly premier award ceremony to recognize the work and achievements of individuals and organizations of the Indian construction industry. The Vishwakarma Awards encompass awards in various categories, with the ‘Industry Doyen’ award being the ultimate prize.

Honored and humbled at receiving this recognition, Dr Manjrekar said: “I owe this prestigious national award to all my friends, colleagues and well-wishers from the industry who have touched my professional life nationally and internationally. In my quest to gain knowledge and disseminate it to the larger fraternity, the American Concrete Institute has played a pivotal role. Now, it is time for me to rededicate my knowledge and experience for the advancement of industry in India in particular, and the developing world in general.”

Dr Manjrekar has been Chairman and Managing Director of Sunanda Speciality Coatings Pvt. Ltd., the last 40 years. The company’s operations extend from India to Nepal, UAE, Oman, Tanzania and USA. SKM, as he is fondly called, has presented over 100 keynote lectures and published more than 200 papers in the field of concrete, corrosion prevention, waterproofing and nano materials etc. He is actively engaged in several technical and administrative committees of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), USA for the past two and half decades. He teaches ACI’s concrete field testing course to Indian engineers as part of ‘train-the trainer’ initiative. He is the Guest Editor of International journals namely Construction and Building Materials (CBM), Cement and Concrete Research (CCR) and Alconpat Revista in UK, USA and Mexico respectively.