The Mozambican Geotechnical Society (SMG) organized with great pleasure the 15^th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Maputo. The valuable contribution of the South African Geotechnical Chapter particularly in the review of the abstracts and papers is gratefully acknowledged.

The general theme of the conference was Resource and Infrastructure Geotechnics in Africa: Putting Theory into Practice. More than half of the papers submitted by authors are related to the construction of geotechnical works in Africa. Roads, airports, bridges, dams, railways, among other significant works were the subject of these papers. This signals a remarkable growth in the number of infrastructure projects that have been carried out or are under construction in Africa.

The increasingly specialized nature of the construction works and some very difficult local conditions demand a deeper knowledge of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering and the involvement of large numbers of geotechnical engineers, as well as specialists of related areas such as geology, rock mechanics, subsurface investigation and field and laboratory testing. The drastic increase in the number of projects in the mining industry will also create additional opportunities and challenges for geotechnical engineers. The proper training of these individuals must be a priority in Africa. We hope that this conference has made a significant contribution towards this goal.

The 94 papers submitted to this Conference are presented in 8 sections namely Roads (17), Foundations (14), Lateral Support and Retaining Walls (11), Materials Testing (16), Site Investigation (20), Environmental Engineering (5), Slopes (3), Dams (2) and General (6). Three Keynote Lectures presented at the Conference on relevant issues for the African continent are included in this volume.

The Editors wish to thank the authors for their valuable work in the preparation of the papers and the members of the Organizing Committee and of the Scientific Committee for the assistance and engagement that made this publication possible.

The Editors