Two major hardware companies will not be part of the start of the second phase for the Government’s Help for Homes initiative.

This was confirmed by the Acting Prime Minister and Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, during a press conference yesterday.

The concern is in respect to their delivery rates in the Help for Homes by the Government following Cyclone Winston.

Vinod Patel and RC Manubhai won’t be part of the second tranche until they fulfil more of their orders.

They are still way behind in respect to their delivery rates. They will only be allowed in the second tranche once they’ve completed their current orders which are outstanding, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the two companies have agreed to pay interest rate and penalty charges.

“They need to pay us interest rate and also penalty charges now because we cannot essentially have them not deliver and not be penalised for that. So we are looking at an interest rate of up to 4 per cent and even higher for penalty charges and that’ll be issued and we have an agreement on that,” he said.

Government had allocated 20 million dollars in the budget for the second tranche. This will start within the next fortnight.

The Ministry of Women and Poverty Alleviation will look after the logistics to ensure the second tranche is disbursed.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum highlighted that the shortage of concrete blocks was a major problem.

He said the following companies needed to fulfill their demands in the first tranche:

Vinod Patel requires 1 million concrete blocks

RC Manubhai requires about 250,000 concrete block

Carpenters requires about 40,000 concrete block

Fiji has at least five major suppliers of concrete blocks. Their priority is to meet their  export demands as they fetch a higher price.

“The local suppliers aren’t able to meet their demands,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“We hope that in the next couple of weeks we will have a discussion with them to see if they can provide the focus on supplying the local market first and local demand in particular for the Help for Homes.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also singled out some of the companies that have performed really well and have done a 100 per cent attainment of delivery in the first phase.

These include Kasabias, Dayals, Refrigeration & Electrical Services Ltd and CBS Power Solutions (Fiji) Limited.

RC Manubhai director, Bhavesh Kumar, said: “We respect the Governments decision regarding the 2nd phase. There is a shortage on concrete blocks and some sizes of timber which form a major part of rebuilding. There are many challenging areas such complicated logistics to service outer Islands and notwithstanding this we will explore all avenues to service all our customers. We are updating the Ministry of Economy on weekly basis on progress of deliveries.”

Vinod Patel’s assistant manager advertising and promotion, Vijay Krishna, said: “We respect Government’s prerogative and will work closely with the Ministry towards fulfilling the needs of all people to rebuild the home. We have no further comments but assure to continue serving all customers. We feel this time requires all of us to focus on meeting the needs of all people and we are directing all our resources towards fulfilling this objective.”

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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