PROGRESS UPDATE

PROGRESS UPDATE

VIC-JAF FISHNET MANUFACTURING PROJECT

Submitted by

CARITAS SRI LANKA

Telephone no :011-2691885

Email Address: sedec@slt.lk

27 October 2009

UPDATE ON PROGRESS REPORT OF 15 SEPTEMBER 2009

Following on from our last progress report dated 15 September 2009, we provide below a further update on progress to 27th October 2009.

Building Construction

Most of the tasks listed in our previous report of 15 September 2009 other than for the construction of toilets have now been completed. The toilet construction is now expected to be completed by mid-November. Final coat of painting, adjustments to electrical installations and other minor works will be completed as soon as the installation of all the machinery is completed.

Raw Materials

Quotes for raw yarn have been obtained from Superfil Products Ltd in India and Jung Sung Corp. Ltd in Korea. Yarn is also available for purchase in Colombo, however is more expensive. It has now been decided to source it from the Indian company and Letters of Credit are currently being established. Delivery of the yarn supplies is expected in approximately 2-3 weeks. The imported yarn can be transported without much difficulty from Colombo to Jaffna within a couple of days.

Machinery

The Managing Director of Amita Company (the supplier of the netting machines) and the proprietor of Consolidated Ancillaries (the supplier of stretching and processing machines) arrived in Jaffna on 6th October 2009 for a 3-day visit. They inspected the building area and had meetings with the Director and other project members on the layout of machinery and other incidental matters prior to the installation of machinery. On their advice, it has now been decided that the boiler unit will be installed in an existing building at the perimeter of the factory premises, due to the potential Occupational Health & Safety risks in installing it near the netting machines. The boiler unit is ready for delivery in Colombo, however delivery is being held back until the installation of other machinery is completed.

Twisting Machinery:

The technician from Jeyaletchmi Machine Works in India arrived on 8th October to commence the installation of the Twisting Machinery. The local technicians have been working with him and the installation is progressing well. The technician will remain in Jaffna until 30th October, by which time he anticipates completing 75% of the work. The remaining work will be completed by the local technicians. The Jeyaletchmi technician will return mid-November to undertake the assembling and commissioning.

Twisting machine installation and progress

Netting Machinery:

An invitation letter for the visa for the representative from Amita Technical Company Ltd in Chennai to install the 4 Netting Machines was forwarded in the middle of October. He is an assembling engineer and is expected to arrive this week to commence the assembling with the assistance of the local technicians. This is anticipated to be completed in approximately 6 -7 weeks. A senior engineer who is specialised in adjustment of fish net machines will join him during the latter stages of this installation to undertake any fine tuning that may be required.

Other Machinery:

Once the installation of the Netting Machinery is completed the Technician to install the machinery for the processing section, such as the Length and Depth Stretching machine will arrive (ie: around mid- December) and complete the required installation within a week. Hence the installation of all machinery is currently expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Office Equipment and Furniture

The order for office equipment and furniture is planned to be placed towards the middle of November. The following items have been identified for purchase and will be locally sourced in Jaffna-–

10 Office tables

2 Filing Desks

3 Filing Cabinets

2 Dining Tables

30 Plastic Chairs

13 Wooden Chairs

4 Roller Chairs

5 Visitor Chairs

10 Computers

2 Printers

1 Fax Machine

1 Scanner

Staffing

Mr. E Vimalanathan has now been appointed as the Executive Officer (General Manager). He is 53 years old and has a diploma in Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He has had experience in working as Manager at various NGOs and with his background in Mechanical Engineering will be able to provide the necessary managerial leadership to the organisation. He has been selected with a probationary period of 6 months.

5 persons have been selected as Site Supervisor/Mechanics based on interviews held on 12th October. All were selected on the basis of diploma certificates in mechanical engineering. They will under-study the Indian technicians during the machinery installation phase, which will provide valuable training and experience in the maintenance of the machinery for the future.

Advertisements are being placed for the recruitment of an Accountant and interviews will be held in mid November. The two staff members and the store keeper who have already commenced working during the current construction phase will continue till the end of the year and suitable officers will be recruited for these positions by December. The Purchasing and Sales Officers are expected to be recruited in December. While, the administrative staff is being selected on the basis of ability and qualification, the machine operators and other skilled and unskilled workers will mainly be selected from Tsunami or War affected families.

Interviews will be held for the appointment of operators and other positions in the next few weeks and these positions will be filled by widowed women or from families affected by the Tsunami. They will also be provided training by the overseas technicians from India and thereafter by the local technicians who will by then be sufficiently trained in all aspects of operating the machinery.

The tentative date for the planned ceremonial opening is Saturday 16th January 2010. Invitations will be forwarded to donor representatives to attend this opening ceremony. It is also planned to erect a permanent plaque at the site in recognition of the valuable contributions made by Caritas Australia, the Victorian Government and Caritas France. Suggestions for appropriate wording are requested to be provided by the above parties.