Originally hailing from Nepal, Krishna Shrestha CPEng Civil/Structural, MBA, Asso Prof started his professional career as a Lecturer in Structural Engineering at Kantipur Engineering College in Lalitpur, Nepal, before moving to Fuzhou University in China to complete his Ph.D in Structural Engineering. During that time Krishna worked as a lecturer, structural designer, site engineer and high level structural analyst.
In 2011, Krishna moved to Australia with his wife, settling in the regional NSW town of Balranald and taking up the position of Infrastructure Engineer (Operational Engineer) with Balranald Shire Council in the New South Wales Riverina District. After some 3½ years with Balranald Shire, Krishna took up the role of Manager of Works with Narrandera Shire Council in Regional New South Wales – a role which he held for six years, prior to his move in 2019 to take up the role of Manager Strategic Asset Management Horsham Rural City Council in regional Victoria.
While the Riverina and MIA Districts of New South Wales and the Wimmera / Wheatbelt district of Victoria may seem almost as far removed from his homeland of Nepal as one could possibly imagine, anyone who has had a chance to meet and speak to Krishna, would be in no doubt whatsoever about the passion that he has for rural and regional Australia.
“There is something very special about working in rural and regional Australia, both on a personal and professional level,” Krishna said.
“Right from when I first started with Balranald Shire, I have found there to be a strong sense of genuine community and teamwork amongst the staff and personnel, and this has been the case at each of the councils that I’ve worked at,” he said.
“While much of this can, of course, be attributed to the generally happy and welcoming demeanour of most Australians, I think a lot of this strong sense of co-operation can also be put down to the fact that out in the regions, it really is a case of trying to get the best results for the entire community with what is often a fairly limited budget,” he added.
To that end, Krishna and the team at Horsham Rural City Council have developed and implemented a number of strategic asset management and maintenance programs which have been specifically developed with a focus on optimising all aspects of the asset management process, from monitoring and reporting, through to maintenance, remediation and the development and delivery of major capital projects.
Krishna’s paper ‘Defect identification and maintenance management of bridges and concrete structures using Artificial Intelligence’ won the NAMie Award for Best Asset Management Paper at the recent IPWC 2022 Conference in Adelaide.
An Adjunct Associate Professor of Fuzhou University, Krishna is also continuing research with Fuzhou University on High Performance Concrete, besides exploring the best way to manage rural roads and bridges infrastructure in Australia.
Krishna lives in Horsham, Victoria with his wife and three children. He enjoys chess and is an avid fan of basketball and soccer.
