Reports

Mind your Business by business bug

Trick or treat ?

Subscribers were sent letters to this effect and the trial period ended in mid-February. All was well for a while until customers received their March bill when they found they had been billed for voicemail.

When irate subscribers complained, they were told that they were charged as the facility had not been expressly cancelled by the customers- though no such instruction was mentioned in the letter they received. Since most subscribers had never requested the facility anyway, they had assumed the facility would be withdrawn at the end of the free trial! 

The network may have gained a hundred bucks from each customer and technically it did nothing illegal but it lost a lot of goodwill with this fast one. And now when they are talking, customers will think twice before being roped in for the next trick!

Guess who

There is this leading consumer goods distributor which closed shop on the 14th of April- a day after the New Year. It did not declare a holiday but asked all of its employees to obtain leave from their entitled leave allotment.

What if an employee wanted to save that day of leave and report to work on that day? No, they were told they could not do that because the company was closed anyway- so they had to obtain enforced leave and stay at home. 

The employers arrogance was on show, the employees were up against the wall and the company was hedging in giving its employees their dues. Over to you, Mr. Labour Commissioner, we are sure you can guess who the offender is!

Market Report

Direction from March results

The All Share Price Index dipped 1.10 per cent to close at 489.64 while the Milanka Price Index fell 1.62 per cent to register 788.62. The MBSL Midcap Index slid 0.14 per cent to close at 878.3.

"Sri Lanka seems to be something of a safe haven in light of the Colombo Stock Exchange's stability in the face of massive volatility seen in global financial markets in the last two weeks," Head of Research, Jardine Fleming HNB Securities, Amal Sanderatne said. Tech stocks losing appeal and the return to favour of old economy stocks will benefit Sri Lanka as it is an old economy market, he said.

The market will trade within a narrow range next week, Analyst, John Keells Stock brokers, Chinthaka Ranasinghe said. "A bit more foreign selling is on the cards and until this is exhausted there will be pressure on the index. The Malwatta issue should stimulate domestic investment in the market," he added.

The situation in the US markets is uncertain as the revival was on the back of sentiment and speculation, Head of Research, CDIC Sassoon Cumberbatch, Diluk Desinghe said. A few companies have come up with decent results but the situation is uncertain. "Foreign investors are more involved in the bigger markets and are likely to stay out of the Colombo market which is likely to stagnate at current levels till there is foreign involvement," Desinghe said.

"There should be more activity in the market next week,' Head of Research, CT Smith Stock Brokers, Rajiv Casie Chitty said. "People will look for direction in the results expected in the first week of May. Results should be better but could be over shadowed by the plantation wage hike," he said

Money spinner or just rubbish?

By Shafraz Farook

The project will take all household, industrial garbage (excluding construction waste as it could be used as landfill) and medical waste and even sewerage and instead of just dumping them, it will turn it into organic fertiliser, oil, gas and clean water in a rather profitable manner. This seems to be the most promising alternative to the landfill so far.

Global Advanced Re-cycling Lanka (Private) Limited will be set up in June and will be fully operational by the end of the year. 

The project will be initiated in two phases. The first phase will install and operate extractors and separators at the dumps and will be complete and fully operational in all dumps within one year. 

The project involves the installation of extracting, separating and grinding machinery at dumpsites throughout the Island. The first of its kind that will be located at the Kolonnawa dump will devour an estimated 1800 tons of prime garbage a day at full capacity and will operate non-stop throughout the year regardless of weather conditions. Installation of the extractors and separators at other dumps will follow soon after. Meanwhile, Rotoclave machines will be installed in all hospitals to recycle hospital waste. That too will be extracted regularly. Sewage will be collected from the pumping stations preventing it from going into the sea and rivers and separated into solid and liquid waste. The Uva district will get a modern sewage system, which will be operated by the company.

The second phase will involve the commissioning of blending plants and sustainable advance recycling technology systems that are required to manufacture the final product. Chairman/Managing Director Fred Elias said they were in conference with the Municipality to obtain Municipality owned land at Biyagama to set up the second phase of the project. All waste that has been extracted, separated and grounded will be transported to the Biyagama plant where it will be blended.

The plants will be designed to be self- sufficient, as it would produce its own gas to power the machines that run on gas turbines and water 

Mr. Elias told The Sunday Times Business that the project would begin with the Kolonnawa dump, that to date had garbage to last a full ten years as it is, in addition to an estimated 600 tons of garbage that Colombo produces everyday. The company hopes to set up10 grinding and mixing plants islandwide. He said the project would employ over 700 individuals who will be specially trained to work with the new technology. 

Mr. Elias said the fertiliser would be available locally while they also hope to export the remainder. He said the company already had orders for the next five years from Middle Eastern countries. He said if the project goes ahead as scheduled, they would be able to meet the huge growth in demand expected. In addition, he feels that farmers would move from reportedly harmful chemicals to organic fertiliser once their proposed educational campaign takes off. The educational campaign would educate the public and the farmers as to the effects of using a natural fertiliser. They also hope to have field demonstrations for the farmers in their farms. 

Mr. Elias said that over 300 different soil varieties with varying nutrient compositions had been identified in different regions and overseas so far. Mr. Elias said all fertiliser supplied would be custom- made to suit the particular area and that it would be used once the soil samples from the area have been tested. The fertiliser will contain all 16 nutrients that are required to replenish the soil. The use of organic fertiliser is claimed to be non-pollutant as opposed to its chemical counterpart. 

Mr. Elias said the project would also save foreign exchange the government spends on the import of chemical fertilisers and cut down farmers' fertiliser costs. 

While garbage will be made into fertiliser, polythene, plastic and rubber would be converted into oil and made available to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Carbon will be extracted from the garbage and made available to the local market. Solids and liquids will be separated from raw sewage. The solids would be blended with garbage to make 300 soil variants enriched in the 16 nutrients. The liquid waste from the sewage will be purified to drinking standards and released into our waterways. 

In addition, the project will also install over 300 garbage bins known as Moloks, throughout Sri Lanka. A Molok is a ten-foot deep dustbin in the ground. Special vehicles will be commissioned to collect the garbage from the Moloks regularly. 

Mr. Elias said they would collect the refuse free of charge if the local councils in various areas authorised it. 

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