Technical Proposal - STELLA Web viewI heard from Vinoth that you are satisfied with our plans,...

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From: vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:23:12 -0700 (PDT)To: <[email protected]>Subject: BOQ and other docs

--- On Tue, 7/1/08, vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]> wrote:

From: vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>Subject: Re: sorryTo: "Vivek Dharme" <[email protected]>Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 12:21 AM

Technical Proposal Understanding the background, opportunityAnd Project worthiness of Permanent Shelterforthe homeless Families affected by tsunami of December 26th 2004

mailto:[email protected]





Proposed Housing ProjectAt Thirukkovil DS Division Funded & GuidedWith the blessings ofMR.FEDERICO STELLAMR. GIOVANNI STELLA AtGordon HouseBarrow StreetDublin 4 Ireland Introduction First we wish to place on record our sincere appreciation and honour to Mr.Federico Stella and Mr. Giovanni Stella for the kindness and the quality of giving exposed at the hour of need by the presence to provide shelter to the homeless. It gives us great pleasure to team up with you in this meaningful event and submit this technical proposal covering the relevant aspects to complete and hand over the half built houses to the tsunami victims to restart their worthy living and transition from disaster to development, both physically and psychologically. Our approach towards this development is not the concern one would have with regard to building construction with a minimum of 30% profit margin or to be opportunistic capitalizing on an emergency relief effort for refugees. In fact we are looking forward to give the best we could give with the assistant rendered by your enterprising contribution to provide with a better shelter for some would have had before the devastations.We are optimistic that the project will be completed within a fixed budget to bring these houses to a condition that the beneficiaries could occupy.

It is also assumed that this benefiting community will be satisfied and will accept the fact that they all are in the similar conditions today and are been driven to a better tomorrow by this project. We are forwarding in this proposal with the following information for your decision.

Present status of the site and the condition of houses the cost to complete them in summarized form other related activities and concerns in this kind of a development the area of responsibility Our Objective- planned achievements Implementation plans Our capacity in handling this project. The general concept of our team in brief.

The photographs, activity plan and cost sheet are attached for reference. Present status of the site and the condition of houses Construction works The substructure of the house and basic masonry works of all 30 houses have been completed by the previous work force. Roofs of all houses, The Doors and Windows, Door and Window Frames, Septic Tank and Toilets, Floor Concreting and Painting, Plaster work, Basic electrical Wiring and at least two common wells have to be completed to hand over the houses to facilitate minimum conditions for beneficiaries to occupy them. Our Observations revealed that wall plaster works of two houses have been started and completed. It is also evident that roofs of these two houses had been fabricated but now they are removed /destroyed by unknown forces.-. Four houses out of thirty houses have to be completely constructed as the walls of these houses are totally destroyed - could be attributed to natural / artificial interventions. Polish Humanitarian organization has contributed a tube well and this could be cleaned and utilized when constructions commence. Our Team was fortunate to obtain the appointment from the head of the local government authority who explained prevailing social conditions of the area. The area is totally cleared and controlled by the government and community affected by the long standing conflict and the tsunami are recovering from disaster. Main stream electricity, water supply schemes for the resettled families are been provided by the government. The Divisional Secretary of the Area is ready to provide necessary support for the works when started He will also provide the names and members of the families who will be benefited

from the project. Cost to complete the houses The unit of house has been designed to be constructed with block masonry, fully plastered, Asbestos roofing with, Main entrance doors in Solid wood and others in Plywood, Toilets with Bathroom and squatting Pans, Glazed Windows, Individual septic tanks, Water, electricity, painting and fixing of all door window accessories and locks. Please refer the attached summary of the scope of work to be carried out and the cost.Inflation of our country is always double digit and we have planned to complete the works within three months to avoid difficulties due to possible price increases.The cost of material in 2005 has increased by 200% in some cases. Other related activities and concerns in this kind of a development Other Administrative costs and infrastructure developments such as Roads, Common Water Supply, Main stream Electricity through the National Electricity Board, Cost of Main water lines from National Water Board, assistance for health and medical care for children, educational needs, psychosocial consultancy workshops, livelihood support will be coordinated by the Divisional Secretary’s office. Responsibilities Creating awareness amongst the beneficiaries, obtaining their acceptance, coordinating and introduction of the program to the local authorities and assistance shall be areas of responsibility of the local Government authority and a member of our team. All detail and structural inputs, civil works, site supervision, labour mobilizing, purchasing of goods and services, logistics during construction, wages for skilled and unskilled labour will be technically coordinated by our team. Objective To provide homes to the beneficiaries with all basic amenities with quality construction and fast development with infrastructure required for healthy living and creating a sense of belonging of their own new village. The secondary objective is to mobilize the affected people – the members of beneficiary families during the construction works by obtaining their participation for skilled and unskilled labour, thus providing a livelihood package for many of them, hands on experience for the other and most importantly as a therapy of making their hands and minds work which will eliminate the trauma to a great extent. Implementation Operational setup phase

Our team will launch all activities within 72 hours of agreement for investment with the critical tools needed to start works immediately. Quick establishment of detailed and tangible development proposal that produces the targeted objectives, procedures to accomplish all logistical tasks necessary to support the operational set up, determination of roles and responsibilities and the accountability, delegation of authorities and the key elements of monitoring, safety and evaluations and building of capacities with required office infrastructure, mobility and transparency levels to be maintained will be our prime concerns. We will accomplish the pre deployment activities listed above within the required time frame (usually 72 hours). The operational set up team is ready to deploy for the project activities on the third day after contract award. Please refer the activity plan. Demonstrated Capability to quickly establish, maintain and accomplish tasks within time frame in similar settings Personnel Qualifications and experience. We have selected an exceptionally well qualified team for implementation of the proposal. Mr.Surrendra Wijeratne brings to the team demonstrated team leadership and project management skills in the construction and development environment; A thorough understanding of procedures for project management, a strong record of managerial experience. Since 1988 Mr. Wijeratne has served as an executive to the Largest retail, manufacturing and Marketing Organization in the country in the areas of Distribution Warehousing ,Inventory and material Management Imports and local purchasing, Marketing, Field Sales and Administration, Crisis management, lease asset and human resource Management and since 1996 in the capacity of Coordinator for 27 projects in Sri Lanka funded by the German Technical cooperation covering a varied field of activities including livelihood developments, agricultural projects, coast conservation National Water systems, and rehabilitation and development of Northern Schools of the country.The most recent and the greatest achievement for him is the construction of 100 houses in different locations within just 57 days ( targeted for 60 days) for the US Agency for international Development OTI Program in Sri Lanka followed by another 83 houses constructed in next sixty days achieving a total of 183 houses in just 120 days. Mr. S. Jemettakan is a qualified technical coordinator who will be one of the site coordinators and carries with him a experience in Construction of domestic and commercial buildings for over five years and is a member of the implementing youth volunteer team who were in charge of the Hundred houses project funded by USAID in 2003. Mr. Milroy Prera is an experienced building contractor engaged in civil construction, in the area of mass scale buildings religious buildings and domestic units and is familiar with all local regulations and standards for construction. Mr. Vinoth Lal Dharme is the second site coordinator who will be in charge for coordination with local

authorities and the beneficiary community. He is also a member of the volunteer team in 100 houses program. He is an experienced field coordinator who has been service in projects funded by the USAID in the South/North East area of the country in rendering assistance to the Tsunami affected communities. His main area of concern will be logistics related to the programs mobilizing local communities and development of the supply chains and coordination with all local authorities and maintaining the uninterrupted information flow between the community, authorities, suppliers and site engineers..Should you have any questions or clarifications please do not hesitate to contact us Very truly, Surrendra Wijeratne Team Leader

Fax Transmission: No 067 2265056 July 1st 2008 Program Coordinator Stella Homes 16-01, De Fonseka Place

Colombo 05Mr.V. Alagarathnam Divbisional SecrtaryThirukkovil Dear Sir, RE: COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION WORKS OF 30 HOUSES Further to the discussion we held at your office on the 5th of June 2008, regarding the subject we wish to inform you the following. As explained to you at the meeting these houses have been half build and due to unknown reasons the works had stopped. Further with the death of Donor, Mr. Federicio Stella the activities had not been monitored by anyone. Now the son of Late Mr. Stella is in charge of funding and monitoring project until completion of all activities. At the last meeting we agreed to obtain and table available information pertaining to the land ownership. The coordinator of Mr. Giovanni Stella ( Son of Mr. Stella ) has informed us that the late Minister Mr.Jayapalan had coordinated the allocation of land for these houses and the land is said to be owned by one of the relatives of late Minister. They are in the process of obtaining the necessary documents / a letter of consent to donate the lands to respective beneficiaries.

Due to the instability of market prices and inflation of prices of construction material we are starting from preliminary works by third week of July 2008 and completing these houses with a tentative activity plan of 3 months to avoid the cost implications and further damages to this half build houses. We are also in the process of coordinating with UN and other organizations to provide any psycho social assistance to the occupants and will keep you informed on progress. We wish to meet you within next two weeks with prior appointment with further information and our Team Members Information before starting work. Thank you for your valued cooperation.Very Truly, Surrendra WijratneProgram Coordinator Contact: 0777 756781/ 0112 599323/ 0114 850089.

BOQ FOR THE COMPLETION OF PROPOSED HOUSES

FOR , ………………………………………………………………..

TSUNAMI VICTIMS

AT THIRUKKOVIL DS DIVISION

DONATED BY Mr.FEDERICIO STELLA

NO. scope of work

QUANTITY VALU

E

UNIT FREQUENCY RATE

I PRELIMINARIES

1Clearing Site & Levelling

Item Sum 50000

& Setting Out

2Prelimineries Including errecting of

Item Sum 250000

temporary Shelter & providing

services for Labour force - including water

temporary toilet facilities, water for construction

work, equiupment, machinery, first aid,

power, communication for project etc etc

Subtotal

II SUBSTRUCTURE

1Excavation and laying of foundation

houses 30 0

according to detailed drawings of all 30 houses

have been completed

2Since 4 houses are to re done from the

foundation height a DPC layer to be done for

said houses houses 4 8000

Subtotal

III SUPERSTRUCTURE

1Roof work

Construction of roof in asbestos sheets

heat resistant foil in class one timber

including, material, labour and accssoris

houses 30 200000

2Windows and Doors in Class I Timber

including frames, fittings and paint

suitable for the area, totaling to only 130

square feet in openings as detailed in drawings

price includes material and labour

houses 30 91000

3Plaster Works for

walls , amounting to

2734 square ft in each house with smooth sand

houses 30 71220

price includes matrial and labour

4Floor work - cement rendring with single

coloured cement to the total floor area

totaling to 620 square feet in each house

houses 30 30000

5Paint Works for external and internal walls

all houses in one colour price inludes

matrial and labour houses 30 25000

6Electrical layouts with basic outlets switches

and lights including a circuit breaker price

includes, material and labour

houses 30 20000

7Septick tank for each

house

and a squatting pan for each house and outlet

horse, hume pipe to comnplete the toilet

houses 30 20000

8

Subtotal

ADDITIONAL WORKS

1Cement block works in block masonry

in 1:5 cement sand mix in 4 houses damaged

by unknown factors - all walls are to be

houses 418000

0

reconstructed in these four houses

2extending the walls houses 26 18000

upto roof height

in other houses to reach correct roof height

Subtotal

IX

1Contingency 5%total

Transport of goods, matrial and logistical

expenses

Subtotal

Grand Total

From: vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 05:20:12 -0700 (PDT)To: <[email protected]>Subject: Revised ThrikkovilJuly 9th 2008 ATTENTION : JIMMY / GIOVANNI STELLAFROM : SURRENDRA – GOODWOOD -Team LeaderSUBJECT : Completing Thirukkovil Tsunami Houses –

Further to our previous correspondence and discussions we wish to inform you on the following. We will complete 23 houses at a minimum price of Local Rupees 8 million with the following changes from our previous offer. Changes –1.The total houses to be completed -23 nos from 30 houses.2. The ceiling for houses will be excluded3. We have excluded the pavement around the house4. Finishes for Door windows will be normal enamel paint instead of Spray Painting Finish. These changes will not affect the functional value of the houses. The price offered is on prevailing market prices of hardware and for urgent commencement of work with a plan for purchasing all material as soon as possible to control the price increases and its affect on site works. Look forward to your quick response. Thank you,Very truly, Surrendra Wijeratne.

Surendra Wijerathne 24/8/2008

a me, jimmimarathy

Dear Gio,

Hope you have reached home safe and you are in good health. I heard from Vinoth that you are satisfied with our plans, thanks for that and we will keep up to our word.

I am writing this note as the first progress report to keep you informed on the latest situation with regard to the Houses. 1. Actions after meetingts we held with Divisional Secretaries office at Thirukkovil - Mr. Alagarathnam and the colonosation officer - Ms. Lochini and at Ampara District Secretaries office with Mr. Muzamil - Assistant commissioner Lands.

I prepared the minutes of the meeting and faxed to DS office requesting them to proceed with the selection of beneficiaries according to the criteria we tabled.

Mr. Alagarathnam called back and was happy to start on selection and we are trying our level best to send the names list with Jimmy.

During the telephone conversation I had with DS Office they are ready to assist us in visiting the families that they listed and we will look into the background of those named families and forward you the details.

Signage for the construction site - We will use the Name as

" Stella Homes"

Nehrupuram

Thirukkovil with Our Team Logo All lettering in Orange Colour on a white flag.

We will send you a photograph once we complete that flag - in next progress report.

2. Meeting Jimmy and Myself had with Prasudi who started construction works previously.

We received all information with regard to the background of construction work and the LAND TRANSFER - How it was done before and the progress made.

Mr. Prasudi informed that they had very little to do on demarcating land for the houses because at that time - immeadiately after tsunami it was the DS Office who was in charge and that they were advised and supported by the Late Minister - Mr. Nehru in using this land for tsunami houses. Basically the Authorities - at that time - soon after the tsunami invited many organisations for support and they provided the locations to built houses.

The full story was detailed to us by Mr. Prasudi. - This Land was donated by Late Mr. Kannan to the poor people through Late Minister Mr. Nehru who had with the local authority and late Divisional Secretary selected 44 families and blocked to build houses for this poor families.After Tsunami the extent of the block was redyced and 30 blocks were given to build the houses with the kind donation Your Father. At that time Mr Nehru coordinated the land registration with Local Authorities and the plan has been to build these 30 houses for Tsunami Victims and when the other 44 families are also provided with assistance the site becomes a village of 74 families. Mr. Nehru had been Coordinating the activity with local authorities to provide

seperate documents for beneficiaries on the condition that they will occupy the new houses and start life here.There had been a community leader appointed from the 44 beneficiary families who helped the construction work and local labour work . - His name is Mr. Sathasivam. According to Prasudi a copy of the said name list should be with him and he is still at Thirukkovil - We received information including telephone Number.The Land was surveyed,blocked and drawn by Mr. Kannadasan of Karathivu - we received his details - telephone Numers and whereabouts.In late 2005 and early 2006 Minister and the Divisional Secretary was Shot dead by terrorist groups. The Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and LTTE was put aside. with these socio political uncertainity the selected 44 families did not have enough security to resettle in the location and nor did the tsunami victims. As we were advised by the Asst Commissioner of Lands - documents detailing the confirmed name list or the background information and acceptance from the selected beneficiary families were not sent to Provincial Land commision. - Simply - there are no people or information to demarcate and tranfer land - therefore the land is still ready to be given to people if the name list - schedule and beneficiary information is sent.

Now Mr. Nehrus son is the Minister who lives at Ministers Quarters in Colombo - Mr. Prasudi gave his address and Telephone Number so that we could contact him directly for any assistance.

Finally - In short there is no issue regarding the Land and next step is to send the names list and get the authorities to work on it. We communicated this to New DS Thirukkovil - Mr. Alagarathnam and as stated above we will send you a list. We will also obtain support from the above named gentlemen during construction which will be an added advantage - as - according to Mr. Prasudi The community leader is one of the beneficiaries selected earlier.

3. Next Steps.

We are visiting DS Thirukkovil and the site next week - Aug 25th to Aug 29th, 2008- to obtain beneficiary information, follow up work on Land Transfer, share documents related to the work, hand over a copy of the agreement between you and me to the authorities, sourcing local material , security cleartances etc etc.

When the Funds are ready - We will do the total purchasing of material as planned and advised to you - Cement, Roofing Sheets, Timber for Roof, Timber for Door/ Window Frames/ Timber for Doors and Window Sashes, Electrical Wiring Equipment, Paint for Walls, Paint for Timber Works, Toilet Fittings, Material for Concrete and all other accessories such as door locks, Hinges, Nuts and Bolts. This will spent at least 80 % of the cost we stated. And it is the on;ly way to control the price increases of material.

Next the Team split into two - one Transport of material to site with Labour will start work at site. The second Team will start production of Windows and Doors at Our Workshop in Colombo.

I as the team leader will start correspondence with UN and other donor agencies for further support to the community who will occupy the houses - social assistance and very closely follow up the land transfer work. I will meet the Son of Late Minister when required - this will receive state recognition to this site and the good work - You and our team are doing.

The team at site - in addition to the construction work will meet the local community and selected beneficiaries increase their awareness regarding the new homes the poor people will get.

Trust that this information is clear to you and we are positive - (not too optimistic) -that the agreed works will be cariied out without interuption.

This letter is long but I need to keep you informed clearly. And because I do not Have email facility at home I need to run upto the street always and lay down everything that is in my head.

In future you will receive little notes with basic information regarding construction work and loooooooong letters when needed only. I am trying to obtain connection soon. But please do not hesitate to send any notes I will be checking out this mail box often untill I obtain connection. Always copy to Vinoth as he is also having E mail and I will receive messages from him.

All the best to you.

Regards

Surrendra.

Giovanni Stella

a giostella80

24/08/08

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Giovanni Stella

a Jimmy, vinomarath, vinomarathy, Surendra

24/08/08

Dear Suren,

I was writing you today in the same moment Ireceived your e-mail!First of all I'd like to once again express my gratitude for the job that you are doing, which is higly considered by my family. It's very important for us to know that a serious person like you is taking care of this project now.

So, I'm very happy to read how you are going to procede with the job, and to know that you and Jimmy met Prasudi, and that he explained you the situation.

I think that now it'd be importat to meet Mr. Sathasivam in order to see the list of beneficiaries that he has and check it, to control if any of those initial 44 families are still in the need of a house.

Then we really need to double check every single family that the DS is going to choose, just to be really sure that the houses won't be given to people who don't need them or deserve them.In this sense, I'd like you to keep me updated with this, in the sense of being able to tell me some detials about the families that will be chosen, together with the list that you will give to jimmy.

About the Land transfer: what is it precisely? Is it the document that we needed to state and to prove that we can actually build on that land?Tell me more about it please,because this is a really important part of the project, especially for me and my family to have some sort of insurance that we are not running any risk of not being able to deliver the houses.

Next steps:I'm 110% happy that you'll be in charge of the organizational part of the project, and i'm very confident that you'll be able to manage and finish everything, despite of all difficulties and obstacles that this project carries.We're really looking forward to hear from you that labours are started again an the construction part is finally being done. I know that you and your team will be doing your best to complete everything in the best possible way.Funds should already be available and you can speak with Jimmy for deeper informations about it: as you know he's like a brother to me for real and my family have total trust in his actions and in his words, as my father used to do when he was alive.

There's only one thing I ask you on a personal level: it's very important that you manage to keep costs within the allocated budget. I will support you in every possible way and there will be a bonus for you guys (for us all who'd been involved in the project, because this the way my father would have liked to do) once the job will be finished; but my family already put lots of money into this, and I cannot push the bar too much.

Saying so,I'll be waiting to see the first pictures that you'll sed me.Here you'll find a link to an album that I'm preparing and that iwant to use for a website about our project

that i have in mind. http://picasaweb.google.com/giostella80/HousesForSriLanka20052008

As i told you, i would like to keep on doing charity projects and i think that we could really put on a good team. I'm already checking the steps that i have to cover to start some swort of foundation, or non profit organization. Again, if we want to be able to carry this thing on we need to be trustable and reliable, and in the sense it's really important that we finish this first project thinking about every small detail.

Let me know if there's anything that you might need form me in this phase, ad i'll do whatever is needed.

And don't be sorry about long e-mails as I really enjoy receiving details about this great project that we are all doing!!And i tend to write quiet long e-mails too..:-)

Thank you again for everything that you are doing and that you will be doing.

Take care for now, and bring my regards to ur beautiful family!

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmymarathy

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09/08Dear Gio,

Thank you for the fast reply and the encouraging words.

As planned we went to Thirukkovil and met the DS and the colonisation officer. - Aug 25th - Aug 29th.We were not able to meet Mr. Sathasivam but we met a senior person from the village and he knew Sathasivam. We will meet him anyway and discuss about the list of beneficiaries and if they still need houses. The List from DS Office will be received tommorow.

Land Transfer - The consent to build is available and that is why Prasudi and his team had been able to carry out construction. But to process the documents the authorities need the beneficiary details. Since the situation / conditions prevailed after Ceasefire agreement was kept aside was not comfortable and the death of DS and Minister nothing proceeded.

At our Last meeting DS and with the other officers - it revealed that this land belongs to State now, and DS confirmed that within three months the documents will be completed to hand over to beneficiaries and deliver the houses to them. I will follow this up do not worry. We have advanced for material - Timber Logs, Roofing Sheets, Masonry and Carpentry equipment needed, Paint etc etc. As planned we will be purchasing 90% material from Colombo, stock them, and do minimum purchasing at site. this will cost at least 80% of cost and once we deploy labour to site we will need the final amount to cover the labour cost and transport and other admin / operational costs. Regarding the allocated budget - You shoud not worry at all because the planned activity schedule and the quantities we have calculated is almost 100% correct and we will not exceed the 8m limit. Also be sure that we do this without sacrificing the quality of workmanship or material .

By mid next week 90% of material will be stocked, and we will be starting work at site by week

end.You will receive photos of everything.

Regarding the future works - Our Plan is to register the organisation as " STELLA FOUNDATION GW" and with the meetings I will be having with the authorities in charge of Social Development Ministry I will keep you updated regarding the actions required.

I will send you a detail mail by weekend regarding the progress we have made - according to our schedule.

Wish you Good Health and Happiness.

RegardsSurrendra

Giovanni Stella

a Surendra, jimmymarathy, bcc: mags.kennedy

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09/08Hi Surrendra,

thank you for your updates.It is really important that you manage to begin to work at site as soon as possible, in order to still have a chance to finish everything by December.

- Did the DS in Thirukkovil sent you the list? Did you have the chance to take a first look at who those benefeciaries would be? I think we'd need to scrub the list a bit and see if there's still someone from the 2005 list who still need a house. Any news from Mr.Sathasivam? THe sooner we get the list, the sooner we can have land transfers processed.

-What about those letters from the previous DS or Minister that Mr.Sathasivam is supposed to have kept?

- You wrote:"At our Last meeting DS and with the other officers - it revealed that this land belongs to State now, and DS confirmed that within three months the documents will be completed to hand over to beneficiaries and deliver the houses to them. I will follow this up do not worry". This seems to bring us back to an old fear I had...:-) if the Land belong to the State now, and it will take up to 3 months to have those documents, how can we be sure that we build the houses and then someone else (the State, for example) claim to be their owner? I know that we've been reassured by the land commissioner that this cannot happen, but -again- I'd prefer much more to have some evidence, some documents or proofs to be sure that nothing bad or unpleasant will happen. That document should be in Mr.Sathasivam hands, but from what i understood we still don't have anything in our hands.I ask you to be really rigorous and careful about this point, as from what i can see this is the only point about which we could have bad surprises (beside the war).

- I'm very happy to hear that you'll stay within the budget, as this was another important issue.

- I started to talk to some people i know about our future project. Next week I'll be in Italy for 3 days, and there i think i'll be able to talk to a very important person in Milan, who had a sort of gentleman agreement with my father. Once again, it is very important that we manage to finish this project in the best possible way if we want other people to get involeved in the future.

I will wait for your updates and for your pictures.

You are doing an amazing job and we are all grateful for the passion and will that you are putting into this.So keep going and let me know asap if anything bad would ever show up.

God bless you,talk to you soon

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmymarathy

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Dear Gio,

Thanks for the reply and clearly stating your concerns and views.

The two attachments carry the list of beneficiaries, which we received by post on Sept 11th 2008.

With regard to your concerns, I detail below the present set up and our plans to continue the project - un interuppted

This list is the first document we required , as explained by the Asst Commissioner Lands they will start the process of demarcating the land detail and confirm the blocks reference the land plan of allocated blocks which we gave to him at our last sitting.

Our visit to Thirukkovil with this list is scheduled and confirmed in consultation with DS Thirukkovil, - the date he agreed and suggested - Friday 19th September we leave colombo and arrive at Thirukkovil by Saturday Morning.

DS will proide us his staff assistance - to meet the families listed in the attached document, evaluate their background to justify the 23 families who will benefit from this according to the criteria we determined at meetings we had in your presence. - poorest families who do not have the capacity to to help themselves but who want to help themselves.

This finalised list with the personnel details of families certified by the DS Thirukkovil will be the second document that the Assistant Commissioner reqested, on which they will arrange a document detailing Individual families and approved by the Government Agent of Ampara which will be sent back to DS Thirukkovil granting approval for the families to occupy the houses and confirming ownership. This is the document we should collect while construction is on which shall be available when work is completed so that we are able to hand over the houses officially.

The copies of these documents will be delivered to Provincial Land Commission who will, based on the recomendations and approvals from DS and GA process individual documents per family which they will receive by registered post, perhaps at a political meeting.

As stated by you Mr. Sathasivum will have some sort of documentation and we will be meeting the son of Late Minister Mr. Mehru to expediate this process.

Most importantly our key to success here is the community and their voice, which as mentioned to you is one of our prime activities. We are not providing a space for political revolution but on the other hand we need to make all authorities - public administration & state services and political streams respecting the community voice and provide social security. This is very important for sustainability of these communities' existence. However we are not going to obstruct these stake holders taking credit or mileage out of this program. With due respect to Late Mr. Federicio Stella, you, your family, jimmy and my team, We plan to gracefully hand over the houses without descrepancies.

NEXT STEPS.

By Thursday of Next week all stocks to be purchased from colombo for production and delivery to site are ready.

Friday the team leave colombo and arrive at Thirukkovil on Saturday - to meet DS and occupy the site

Team will put up basic pre requirements for lodging at site - water, electricity, toilets kitchen and a part of the team will meet listed families

I will meet DS and the authorities with the documents and the Team start roof constructions

Team at Workshop in Colombo start production of Door Window Frames and sashes.

Next Progress report to you will have pictures of the re activated site and results of meetings with Authorities.

I have photos of Timber been logged and machine sawn, stocks purchased etc, but my camera have some problem re the image size. It is too heavy to be sent via mail and they told I need to format memory / capacity of pictures- I am not expert on computer/ digital applications, hence will send them to you ASAP. With regard to the future activity, I did not set up a meeting and a visit to Ministry of Social Services, but will follow up. I want to kick start the houses first, delegate few things to the team and set out considerable time for that. will keep you posted. Wish you good health and happines.Very truly Surrendra Giovanni Stella


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Ulteriori informazioniHi Surendra,

Thank you fo the update.

Just one question: did u upload any attachment? Because i couldn'tfind any attached.Could you send it again-even if u tried to send anyattachment?

I am really looking forward to see the first pictures of the site,i'mvery excited!

I'll talk to you soon. Take care for now.

Gio

Hi Sure,

How are you? How's your family and your beautiful little blond man doing?

Following what you wrote in your last e-mail you should be inThirukkovil at the moment and you should have met the DS to discussthe list of beneficiaries.How did the meeting go?Unfortunately there was no attachment with ur last email, so wecouldn't see the list of beneficiaries that you sent me. Could yousend it again?Also as you mentioned you should have started to meet the potentialbeneficiaries, and it'd be great if you could update us on how this isgoing. This is a crucial part of the project and we really want to besure that we are helping families who have nothing left.

Was the DS collaborating? Is there anything that myself or Jimmy cando for you guys down there?

Once again i really want to express you my gratitude for the job you are doing.

About the on site work: did you start to build roofs,doors andwindows? Did part of your team settle down themselves on site?As youcan imagine it would be the greatest of the news for me and my familyto know that construction of the houses started again.

Also, let me know if you want me to talk to or send any email to localauthorities or politicians etc for any purpouse.

I'm really looking forward to hear from you and to see pictures ofhouses and beneficiaries.

May God always bless you,your family and your team.

Regards and a big ciao!

Gio

Dear Gio, Thank you for the good wishes, yes my blonde little man is doing great. His college reopened after holidays and the guy is always in high spirits. One more thing happened, I am happy for that too, my daughter attained adulthood, there are few customs we had to follow and every one at home, my mother, relatives shyama's ( wife) relatives were at home to celebrate. We could not travel to Thirukkovil last friday as planned and agreed. The national news reported few problems in the area and the main road was closed. The DS advised to hold our trip and to call back. We called on Friday morning as advised and he said siuation is returning to normal and for us to be there this week. I discussed and agreed to report to location to start work on Sept 24th 2008. This day is the public day for DS and he is waiting to see us.

DS is very cooperative. So after a long planning session we are leaving to Thirukkovil Today, with blessings from all of you. And this time it cannot change cause The total roofing sheets valued close to 1 million is delivered by supplier by Tommorow noon to site. We must be there to accept. On the other hand DS wants to offer us the contacts of his officeres who will help us with beneficiary meetings and finding locations.You will receive the update by Thursday. The atachment has not come to you, I will scan that document and send you. You will have to write to some local authorities in the near future. I will keep you informed on that. Firstly I am doing a Total Project report on this project detailing the Whats? Hows? and Whys? of this project and submitting to the Government Agent Ampara though DS Thirukkovil. I will forward you a copy. After that either, GA Will contact you or you will write to them. So thank you for the confidence placed on me and my team, we will keep it up. Wish you and the family happiness and good health. Surrendra.

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmymarathy

mostra dettagli 29/09/08


> italiano

Ulteriori informazioniDear Gio & Jimmy, I am sending this note with great pleasure. We arrived at site as notified to you on last Wednesday, Sept 24th 2008. The DS Thirukkovil was informed of our arrival and he was happy to see us starting work.During the journey we officially informed the Deputy Inspector General of the area with a list of names of my team and with a detailed background of this effort. I returned with two members yesterday around midnight and sending you this note. We received the total order of roofing sheets weighing up to 30 metric tons on same day and the team unloaded all at site.

First we were worried about water but the tube well which was at site was put in order by my team and we now do not have an issue of water. I am searching the contact details of the Polish organisation who did that and thanking them for this with two objetives viz. appreciate their effort and provide with some feed back.and secondly to request them to provide further support to the community who will live there, perhaps they could do a water tank for the use of families who will occupy these houses. We received some info pertaining to the history of this project - the losses , who and how and thus driving us to arrive at some conclusions. The causes are malti faceted and what We decided is no matter what they relate to we shall not waste time to find real causes or run behind that past.We now are in a positive foundation with clear information and transparent to all stakeholders , direct / indirect autorities and most importantly the general public of the area who benefit from this.The best thing to do is not to evacuate the site until we hand over the houses to poor families who honestly are in need of shelter. That is our plan to protect the efforts. Sand is purchased from the area and we have finalised everything.Roof work is started.You will receive several attachments - please go through them. Today DS called and we are having the beneficiary meeting this week . DS will coordinate this meeting and once the benefiting families are finalised they will provide assistance in minor works such as cleaning up and labour according to DS. I will send you more updates once I receive infor from site. I am travelling back on Wednesday 1st with another load of material. Cheers. God Bless you. Surrendra

Giovanni Stella




>

italiano

Ulteriori informazioniHi Sure,

First thing: Thank you for the pictures. I loved receiving them and i'm so happy to see that the work is being done.It's so important for me, and for my mother also, to see that you managed to start the constructing again, and i have to tell you that is a sweet sensation to see your guys working on roofs.You do know how much important this project is to my family, Jimmy and me, and it's great to feel that we can now see an happy end for it again.For this, and for having worked so good until now, we all owe you a big thank you.

Now, next steps:you said that you should be meeting the DS this week to decide about the beneficiaries.About criterias, I would say that we can only see how this people is doing now, and decide consequentially. So, considering this all, did you get any important info or update from the DS?

I think it's pretty important that we can involve the direct beneficiaries in the construction, because this way we could either make them feel as a part of thisd project, and we could gain, time and resources for the future.

About the water: are you ok now with the water tube?Do you need anything from me or do you want me to do anything about the water supply? As I already told you, you only have to let me know if you might need anything from me, such as writing or dealing with the authorities, in ord3er to get things done.

Do you feel that there's something me or jimmy can actively do at this stage?

Then, one smaller,yet important and symbolic, issue: i saw you put flags, and i can tell you that i really really appreciated it. I was happy to see that you wrote Stella on them.Still, There's something i'd like to change:) My father is the mind, engine and brain of this project, and i would like to have prepared and send you some flags with a symbol (it's a star, with an F inside) that has a big meaning to me.I will preapre these flaags and maybe some shirts, and then send them to you. Would you mind letting me know how many flag or flags your using? And, by the way, could you send me the logo of your company as well?

I'm starting to plan my next visit there, and i'll keep you updated about this.

So...ioinbce again, good job for now, and god bless you and your men.

And happy birthday to Jimmy, who's getting even older than he already was, today....:D

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmymarathy

mostra dettagli 18/

10/08

Dear Gio,

Trust that you and everyone back home are in good health. I returned from Thirukkovil on 14th October and travelling back tonight. During the stay at Thirukkovil we managed to complete Roof timber works of 7 houses and sheeting for three houses. The progress is a little slow but we can catch up. This is due to additional masonry work we had to do to align the walls to correct heights. And once the masonry work is done we have to allow one day drying period prior to timber works and laying sheets. Door/ Window works are in progress and we have already completed works for 5 houses and from this week the plastering works will start. Today I am taking three more persons who will join the Masonry Team at site. We were able to meet Mr. Sathasivam who was in charge of the house construction in 2005.The discussion revealed the following.

This land has been owned by a family approximately 25 years ago and then owned by the state.

Threfore the former Minister with the DS Thirukkovil have surveyed and blocked this land in 20 perch blocks to hand over to the tsunami vixtims.

After this survey the details had been given to ampara and these 30 houses construction has commenced.

A confirmed name list of beneficiaries had not been available at that time but a document had been circulated to find people who do not have houses or who have not given their names to other organisations.

The former minister had given a letter to the relevant authorities to process the land demarcation

All copies were collected and handed over to present Divisional secretary whom you met during your stay in Sri Lanka

Reference the discussions we informed DS that Mr. Sathasivam will be given a house and DS Shall give us 22 names from the list he gave us

He will also arrange a meeting for us with the selected beneficiary families and we will give you the details soon with a small background of those families after confirming that the selection is justified.

RE A question to Mr. Sathasivam, to understand whether the people will come and occupy these houses he confirmed that there are many who do not have houses and these houses are larger that other tsunami houses and people were happy to own one of these houses

In another quastion I asked why the site got abandoned? he said after the CFA was void and with military operations against terrorism the area did not receive any security for the people to stay here and even the security people had to go away

Now the area is cleared and even people from local villages come to the site requesting a house I have directed them to The DS so that we do not miscommunicate or make people uncomfortable but they will have coordination from one point only without any confusion - From DS Office.

In addition to the tube well we obtained services from local labour to excavate the well near the main road and this will support many activities in future.

According to Jimmy you are planning to arrive in December, if so please advise a tentative planned date. I need to keep the relevant authorities and the DS Informed. This project must receive recignition for our future works.

So far we have had no problems at all and day by day the pubilicity for the project amongst local community increases.

With the next progress report you will see more roofs completed .

Wish you happiness and good health.

Give my regards to everyone at home, specially your mother and our friend Alex.

God Bless you.

Sure

Giovanni Stella

a Surendra, jimmymarathy, bcc: Alessandro, bcc: Margaret

mostra dettagli 18/

10/08Hi Sure!

I was writing you an email when i got yours:)

So, first of all I wanna say that I'm very happy to read that everything's going fine.It's great to read that houses are being finished for real. Also, i guess that it was unavoidable for you to spend some time on masonry works, as the houses were very ruined.The end of November was probably a too optimistic deadline, but still i believe that there are solid chances to finish everything by the end of the year.What do you think about this? Do you consider such a deadline as a realistic goal?Now that the reconstruction has started, and that you are working on roofs,doors and windows, it'd be great if you could provide us a date within which houses will be ready.

About beneficiaries: when is the DS goin to give you the final list of beneficiaries?

It would allow us to speed up the whole process i suppose, if we could get that list asap and contact the beneficiaries to involve them in the construction works.It's great news that the DS is going to coordinate and address all people and beneficiaries down there, but id'd also be great to have beneficiaries occupy the site as soon as possible, to avoid any possible problem like the ones that happened in 2005 when the site was abandoned.

I think that - at this stage - our goal should be to aim to finish everything by the end of the year, so that we can give the finished houses to the beneficiaries and have them safely occupied before that any possible problem occur.

About my next visit in Lanka, i'm still not sure wether it'll be in December or between January/February because i have to speak to my boss at work and see when i can leave.Anyway i can confirm that I'll come soon, and when i'll be there we'll go to talk to the DS and the other authorities again, hopefully to thank them for helping us finishing this task.

Lastly, for what concerns our future projects, I've aready collected all relevant informations to open a non profit fundation, and we already have a good advertising supporing us and giving us credibility as Ale wrote an article about Thriukkovil houses on a very important italian newspaper.

What we need now is the houses to be finished, occupied and ready, on order to attain more credibility and to have a proof that we do not do a lot of talk, we prefer to work and deliver results.

So, as per your experience what is the deadline that you can give for the construction work?

Thank you once again for all the effort and passion you are putting into this project: we are about to change the life of 23 families, and you are making it possible.

Keep working as hard as you are already doing, and may God bless you, your guys and your family. Ciao!

Gio

Hi Sure,

How everything's going?

The last email i got from you was on October 18, so almost a month ago. We talked last week on the phone, but you said that you would have sent an email which never arrived.Is it everything going fine?Is everything allright? Is there anything that I can do in the meanwhile?

I also replied to that last email but i never got a reply.It is very important for me to have something to show to my family - so a letter is always perfect, even better if those are pictures - so that I can show what is being done with their money.As you know and are aware of, members of my family are the "stakeholders" of this project.Money with which these houses are being bulit are basically their's, and the investment made was big and considerable.

I know and I'm sure that you know all of this, as well as i know that you are really busy and that you probably don't have time to give regular updates. I also know that you are doing an amazing job ,and that you are giving jimmy regular updates. Another thing that i know is that you are being able to manage this project and to lead your team - and our hopes - to success, through your sensitivity and passion.

Nevertheless, it's vital for me to receive those updates from you, because you are the one who's in charge of this project and who's taking care of realizing this "dream".

As i said, i know that you are probably too busy with everything, and I know that you are doing great things - in this very moment too. But so, if you don't have the time to write yourself, i kindly ask you to tell some of the guys who work with you (Vinoth for example?) to update me, so that i can then update my family, and all the people who's watching at this project with higher attention.

I am looking forward to hear from you soon, and my god bless you and your team.

Take care, and a big ciao!

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmy

mostra dettagli 19/

11/08

Dear Gio / Jimmy Regret the delay in replying your mail and updating you on the progress. As you mentioned yes I was stucked at Site due to for few security concerns and water. I have discussed matters with the Duputy Inspector General of Police - Special Task force and the ASP of the area and the security issues are rectified. The water matter is pending but we are carrying on work with the available resources. This matter was discussed with the Area Water engineer, UNICEF Water Project Engineer and but their water project - completes only in February 2009. The main distribution lines are laid - but the supply has not begun. However the engineer confirmed that when they start distributing these houses will be provided with water facility. The list of beneficiaries are finalized and I received a list of 24 beneficiaries from Divisional Secretary by fax.I have made it very clear that we are doing only 23 houses and DS agreed but due to political presure he have included the 24th family and stated that during our survey we can drop one name. The Names are listed below, When I receive the original I will scan that document and forward. 1. K.SATHASIVAM2.M.NAGESWARAN3.K.MAHENDRAN4.N.VINAYAGAMOORTHY5.K.SELVARASA

6.P.INDRADEVI7.M.THAMOTHARAM8.S.YOGAMANY9.V.KANTHAMALAR10.S.PARAMESWARY11.V.SOMASUNTHARAM12.A.ARUMUKAM13.K.SELVAKUMAR14.S.SANMUGANATHAN15.S.THANGAMMAH16.K.AMIRTHAM17.S.VIJAYAKUMAR18.M.RAMASAMI19.N.NAGARAJAH20.V.PALAN21.V.SANGAMA.22.K.RAMARAJ23.P.THIYAGARAJAH24.A.KUMARAVADIVEL. During my next visit DS will arrange a meeting with these beneficiaries and the MP Of the area. I could visit these families and confirm if the selection is justified or not and take corrective action. Progress of WORK I am trying to attach potos of the site to this mail but if it fails you will receive another mail. Concrete columns for the roofs - 90% completedDoor Frames - 100% completed and delivered to siteWindow Frames - 100% completed and delivered to siteDoor Sashes - 75% completed - in colombo awaiting deliveryWindow Sashes - 100% completed in colombo awaiting deliveryRoofing - 8 nos completed at site by week Nov 8th Plaster - 7 houses completedFlloring - One completed as sample The labour crew at site is kept at minimum untill the water issue is sorted out and once we obtain a sufficient water supply or resource we are increasing the labour at site. As you stated End december will be more realistic as a tentative end date and once the Window and door sashes are completed and delivered the total requirement of material will be at site and we are scheduling for two shifts. We too cannot drag the program as we are unable to stay at site for a longer period which will increase our admin costs.

I have discussed with UNICEF Field Office, World Vision and Save the Children programs regarding some psych social assistance to these beneficiaries and for livelihood support. They are happy to provide such assistance and I have to mak official requests through the DS Office. I will send you the details later. I will send you a latest update by this week end. Wish you and your family good health and happiness. Surrendra

Giovanni Stella

a Surendra, jimmymarathy

mostra dettagli 22/


> italiano


Hope to hear that you are fine.

I'm glad to read about progresses you and your team made with the houses.

After reading your email there are 3 questions that i want to ask you:

1) if the water project will be finalized in February 2009, how could we be able to let people in the houses by the end of this year 2008? Do you think it will be possible anyway to have all 23 families entering the houses as soon as the construction ends?Or will they have to wait until the water project is terminated?

This is a pretty big issue that we need to discuss, in order to avoid the eventuality that houses are completed and ready to be delivered, yet left alone and empty.Can you please tell me your idea about this?S othat we can work on a solution in case any roadblock might show up.

2) Why the DS wanted to create a list of 24 beneficiaries if we are building only 23 houses?What is this politcal pressure that you are talking about? Can you please explain in more details? There's no reason at all to create a list of 24 beneficiaries if we cannot deliver 24 houses. Help me understand,please:)

3) Is there anything that me, my family or Jimmy can do from our end to help in you with anything?

I'll be waiting for your answers and your next update.

Thank you for the great work that you are doing, and god bless you.

Gio

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 28 novembre 2008 13.02

A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>, Jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

below you'll find copy of the email i sent you last week.Do you have any update to answer the questions i made you?Is there anything that me or Jimmy need to know or can do to help?It'll be great if you could let us know something!:)

Take care and talk to you soon!

Gio

Hi Sure,

Hope to hear that you are fine.

I'm glad to read about progresses you and your team made with the houses.

After reading your email there are 3 questions that i want to ask you:

1) if the water project will be finalized in February 2009, how could we be able to let people in the houses by the end of this year 2008? Do you think it will be possible anyway to have all 23 families entering the houses as soon as the construction ends?Or will they have to wait until the water project is terminated?

This is a pretty big issue that we need to discuss, in order to avoid the eventuality that houses are completed and ready to be delivered, yet left alone and empty.Can you please tell me your idea about this?S othat we can work on a solution in case any roadblock might show up.

2) Why the DS wanted to create a list of 24 beneficiaries if we are building only 23 houses?What is this politcal pressure that you are talking about? Can you please explain in more details? There's no reason at all to create a list of 24 beneficiaries if we cannot deliver 24 houses. Help me understand,please:)

3) Is there anything that me, my family or Jimmy can do from our end to help in you with anything?

I'll be waiting for your answers and your next update.

Thank you for the great work that you are doing, and god bless you.

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 29 novembre 2008 04.21

A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: [email protected]

Dear Gio, I taken few days time since my last update and to answer your questions to send you some positive notes. Not to just, please you but talk to you about possible things. Water.- This is one major concern tabled by us ( You & myself) to DS at the first meeting

taking to account that without the basic needs people cannot occupy the houses and that we assumed one reason for the people not to occupy the houses last time could have been non availability of basic requirements.I met the unicef/ unops engineers to get a basic idea of the timing because during the beneficiary meetings with DS, I must detail them the process and they should make individual requests through DS Office to the Water Board to include their names and then they will receive individual connections from the main lines. We shall not wait for the water project to complete. There is a super well - the tube well that we are using and that could be fixed with a pump and people can use it. We did not budget for water supply for the houses as we expected this from the state service. It will be provided as expected but takes a little time. Therefore I need to obtain support from few organisations who are in the area to provide water to the families and connect them to the village.I have discussed this in detail with CARE INTERNATIONAL Team Leader and they are possitive that they do consider this as a priority need and will support these families. Today I am travelling to Thirukkovil again and meeting with CARE Team leader by Monday with a complete report of the project. I will inform you the result. They are not only considering water but some livelihood assistance, a small pre school for children and education support. On the other hand I met Son of Late Minister Mr. Nehru who have initiated support for the project soon after tsunami. The meeting was called by him and I had the opportunity of tabling the present status and obstacles we might face. Water was priority and Minister confirmed that he will coordinate the state support immeadiatly for water and power supply. His idea is to put up two more Tube wells and a water tank from the government funds and wanted me to request this in writing. He is Mr. C.ChandraNehru opened his views of the project.He is very upset that he have never received any updates from 2005, since the project started. He was blaming Prasudi saying that He have requested a progress reports since project started and for the last three years they have not provided anything. He appreciated and wanted me to send his respect and greetings to your family for this endowment. Now I have promised him to send a progress report once in two weeks and a complete status update with photographs.This project is presently been discussed at the Parliment level according to Mr. ChandraNehru as a program funded by an unknown organisation. I explained the background and gave your family name and I may have to meet the Minister Of Nation Building regarding the program. I will update you.

I am not allowing the water issue block our progress because If I stay at site for longer than planned our admin costs are exceeding limits. I also assure you that the site will not be left alone until they are handed over. DS have typed the list as he received it without finalizing and leaving that decission to me.The Political pressure he face is the ministers of the area forward him names of several people who need of houses. These peoples representatives ( MP) belong to several parties and DS is automatically pressurised as he cannot take either side. What he does is respect every body and include the names given by the MPs. This is not a problem for us as final decission will be taken by me after evaluation and I have made it very clear and made it in writing that we complete only 23 houses and there will be only 23 beneficiaries. This may change later according to minister as the government is planning to do more houses in the same location. If you can try to find out if there are any projects funded here in Sri Lanka by Italian Government. If some information is available I could meet them here and they will be happy to provide some assistance to the beneficiaries. After next meetings with minister and the ministry you may have to communicate with them for good. I will send you details of the meetings I will have this week when I return from Thirukkovil by next Friday. God bless you all. Sure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 05 dicembre 2008 20.24

A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: [email protected]

Hi Sure, I'm gald to read these big updates that you are giving us. I'm on holidays now so I don't have the chance to check if there's any italian Government initiative going on in Sri Lanka at moment, but i will do it as soon as i get back to Dublin - which will be on Sunday 14. It's great that you managed to meet Mr. C.ChandraNehru and that he's supporting us. I kindly ask you to send him mine and my family's regards, and we are all thankful for the generosity he showed us when this project started.

I'm glad you had the chance to expain him what happened and why there hve been these problems in communicating him updates about ther construction. Do you think it'd be possible for me to write him directly to give him our regards?If so could you please give me his address or an email addres? Talking now about the CARE organization I think that you are doing a graeat netwroking team Sure,i am honestly impressed. How did your Monday meeting go?It'd be obviously great if they could support us and the village with water and livelyhood services. I'll be checking my email every now and then in the following 8 days, but you can always call me on my italian mobile: +39 338 1547013 I'll wait for your update this weekend. In the meanwhile, take care and God bless you. Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 09 dicembre 2008 09.15


Dear Gio Thank you very much for your encouraging notes. I will send another mail detailing everything that evolved through the meetings of last week. They were - Meeting with DS Office, CARE International Ampara Division, Telephone conversation with UNICEF/ UNOPS Water Project, Officer In Charge of the Police of Thirukkovil, Telephone Conversation with the Ministry of Nation Building in charge of Development works of North & East, Telephone Coversation with the Italian Embassy in Sri Lanka. Answer to your question - re communicating with minister - of course you can write to him direct and thank his father - Late Minister Mr. Nehru for supporting the program during initial stages. But for the last three years no one - Government / Non Government or Individuals had considered to develop this or taken notice. Without complaining you have found my team and re activated this program with due respect to your fathers generous endowement. Now we are nearing completion and trying the level best to obtain whatever support that anyone could offer -( without ulterior motives) - for the betterment of beneficiary families. I am copying this note to the minister and will be sending the report of the progress todate for

his reference and any support that could be provided to satisfy the priority needs of the area. Regards Sure


Rispondi a: [email protected]: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Hope you are in good health and happy. You would have received the last mail with pictures. I managed to format the camera to record small pictures and now could send you pictures with mails without a problem.As stated in my last mail following is the out come of meetings and discussions I had with the relevant authorities. Divisional Secretary Thirukkovil The discussion was held reference the meeting I had with son of Late Minister and the list of beneficiaries he named.DS Stated that the families selected could be visited by me to identify their present status, and justify if they are within our criteria of selection.He is confident that the families will be provided the houses on a strict condition that they must stay and live in the house from the date they occupy them. He was also happy that I am trying to network few other organisations for the sustainability of the programme. I explained him that I will meet and discuss the programme with other donors and authorities and since I am an individual he shall certify all documents I exchange on behalf of the project. He offered his fullest cooperation in this regard and all requests I will be making from other organisations on behalf of the families will be counter signed by DS. CARE INTERNATIONAL. I had the meeting with CARE Team Leader of the Area - Mr.Jayapalan. They have been involved in shelter, water and sanitation programs but now are closing most of their field offices since the Government Taking over the area. UNICEF in coordination with the Government of Sri Lanka and Asian Development Bank Have taken the total water supply projects of the area. However CARE Team Leader stated that he is clearly interested in providing livelihood assistance for these families since this is a very small group - i.e.23 families only. He requested us to provide the details of these families, their present income sources, capacity, no of dependants and the category they fall to - such as

tsunami affected, conflict affected or reasons why they should receive such assistance. This information should be certified by DS and sent to them. I will continue to hold them and coordinate with DS. UNICEF/UNOPS Water Project I contacted the Project Director Mr. Gabriel Rozairo and he confirmed that all families will be provided with the main stream water supply when they complete the project by end February 2009. The program is a US $ 14million project for water and with the government coordination they have taken over total water issue of the area. All they need is the DS to certify and coordinate family details with them so that once the project is complete beneficiary families will receive main stream water without discremination. OFFICER IN CHARGE OF POLICE - THIRUKKOVIL He is Mr.S.G.M.Ranathunge - who was very happy that we have been on the correct track by clearly obtaining the necessary Government Authority support and permission in providing such assistance. He also explained that there are several projects launched in the area but due to lack of coordination and the water problems the beficiary families have left these houses and are back in refugee camps or IDP Settlements.The coordination with relevant authorities and organisations is the key for sustainability for these good efforts but if not the investments are a waste.He confirmed that all required civil security / law assistance will be provided by him through the DS for the project and people who will occupy the houses. Following the discussion he promised a visit to the site and did so in the afternoon. At site he explained few other requirements for this small village. According to information he received the beneficiaries will be some of the most disadvantageous groups and under priviledged who sometimes would have been left out due to social issues. The education for children will be one major need to see at least the future for them is good. The health facilities, state assitance - food for children, clothing , medication, medical assistance for infants and mothers, periodical clinics for pregnant mothers, other civil regulatory needs such as Identity cards, certification of occupancy, and citizens certifications through the village officer etc must be provided for them to sustain the project.Once the project is complete and when the beneficiaries are handed over with new homes he is one key person who will be of highest importance for them to obtain most of civil security assistance. He offered his fullest cooperation for the project. We have provided him with the backgound information and previous correspondence I had with the authorities and the Agreement I had with you to launch the project. MINISTRY OF NATIONS BUILDING

This is the national body who now, since the Government Of Sri Lanka captured the area from terrorists , are in charge of rapid development works and infrastructure facilities. Son of Late Minister Mr. Nehru, during his meeting stated that the project was discussed at parliment and this ministry requires information. Therefor I contacted the Ministry and had the priviledge of explaining the background, the initiatives of your father and the investment you are making for the people of the area and that you are independent in providing such assistance and have no hidden agenda or a political agenda under the project.The person who was on line with me - I think he was a Project Director in charge of North East area development advised me to send a project report to the Pesidents Secretariat clearly giving background information and other priority needs. EMBASSY OF ITALY - IN SRI LANKA. I found that there is an organisation named ITALION COOPERATION , in Sri Lanka who do provide development assistance. I obtained the Contact Address and will be providing them with the complete program report.Important - I will be stating your fathers name and yours and the family names in this report. Please Advise me The title I should respect your father - such as. Dr./ Proffessor/ Sir. It is important. I do not know the mandate of Italian Cooperation - What assistance they provide or what subjects they cover and how they provide - to individuals direct or through local organisations or through the government. I will keep you informed once I get information. CONCLUSIONS Refrenece above meetings and discussions It is very clear that water remains a major issue until February end 2009. And in the context that there is a US$ 14 Million investment for water no other organisation is investing in providing assistance for small projects related to water. The other priority needs - such as pre shools for children, clinics for mothers/infants, food and other state assistance from government, civil regulations and security assistance through Village Officer, Livelihoods for people are very useful for the sustainability of the village. With the complete project reports I am sending to the Presidents Office, Minister Nehru, CARE International and Italian Cooperation We may be able to receive some asistance for the people.

But for them to attend to people individually will be difficult and meeting them in one location is important. Specially at site In rural areas we generally have one common building for small villages, with a small play ground for children. This is called a community center in which you provide a hall, two rooms and two toilets sorounded with childrens play equipment, covered with a parapet wall - with wire mesh on top.The two rooms used - one as store, one as office for the Village officer, Medical officer of Health, Divisional Secretary, Pre School Teacher and any other Government officer will use in coordination during their turns. The hall is used for the Pre School of Children during weekdays, community meetings as an when required, mothers during the clinic day or by welfare organisations as an when required.A personf nominated by the community as village leader in consultaion and coordination with DS Office and the Village officer named by the DS Office will be in charge of the Building for maintenance and security. I discussed these matters once again with DS Thirukkovil. He too confirmed that this main water project is completing only by that time because the project was extended from initial plans, the capacity and the area it was to cover was increased from original plan. If a community building can be built he will allocate the land for this but he do not have funds to construct. Most of the donor organisations are pulling out from the area because some of them have been involved in supporting terrorists indirectly and the Government have taken strict controls over the projects these organisations do for transparency and for security. Therefore according to DS , Organisations such as ZOA, World Vision, GTZ etc who was in the area are not funding for development projects of this nature. Save the children, UNHCR, are few organisations who continue small programs for children, education health etc. Son of Minister Who is also a member of Parliment Now have very little or no influence to obtain political support or government support.You must be knowing the volatile political situation that exists in the area. Because there is a new minister from the fraction that joined the government Son of Minister have very little political power remaining. I cannot count on him for assistance. We cannot and will not evacuate from site in the year end until the water issue is sorted out. We could easily do that but if people will go back to their camps and your investment will go waste as in the first time. Only thing we could do is try to do a community center if you could find some donors who will support this. So when we remain in the site until water is sorted this building will also be completed.Divisional secretary is allocating land for this if we could provide the building

Because now the powers of allocating the site land is taken to his control, he explained. I hope that the above information explains you the situation and the outcome of meetings I had. One more thing - You noted that you were planning to provide a gift for my guys here once the project is completed. May I suggest you that if possible you send it to them prior to Christmas so that I could distribute to them before christmas and they enjoy it. As confirmed to you several times, Gio I will not evacuate the site untill we have done the following.1.Water and power need is satisfied2.DS Provide with relevant notes with rights to beneficiaries to occupy the houses - legal cover. All I need to cover is the Admin cost for my people during this extended period.But if we are doing the Community building the admin cost is automatically covered. I look forward to hear from you. God Bless You, Your Mother and Family. Sure. Look forward to hear


A: [email protected]: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

thank you for your e-mail and for all explained details.

I'm still not back in Dublin yet, so i'll give you a quick and short answer now, then i'll give you a better reply asap (tomorrow or monday).

So, talking about the community center, how much is needed to build it? I have to know exactely what is the required amount of money in order to understand what can be done.

Can you give me an estimate of the total cost of this building?

I'd also need you to explain better why there is now the need for such a building, and why this

operation has never been mentioned before.

Also, i need you to give me more details about your guys: how many are they?

I might try to give a part of the present now for christmas, and the other part once the project will be over.

Can you answer me asap?



Dear Gio, Thanks for your prompt reply. Hope you are back in Dublin Answers to your questions. 1.COMMUNITY CENTRE I worked out the quantity and cost of such a building. This building will be apprx 50 feet long x 30 feet wide and will have a floor area of 1500 Square feet. ( A house built by us here is Approx 640 square feet) The lowest rate for a domestic building in Colombo ranging from 3500 per square foot. The cost for the building will be approx 5.25million Local Rupees. In this program we are obtaining discounted prices and dealer prices for material and this building need to be strong but need not be designed with sophisticated finishes such as tiled floors several electrical lines, water lines light fittings etc. We will be able to complete with Rs.2800.00 per square feet including admin costs involved in doing such a building away from colombo. So the estimated total cost will be 2800x1500 = 4.2 million. 2. WHY THIS OPERATION HAS NEVER BEEN MENTIONED. Before we got involved -2005/2006 -probably you would have not received any information - proceedural / regulatory , relevant to a development of this nature during the progress in 2005 /2006. I am sure that there would have been discussions at the Local Authority - DS Office - as we have two small notes refereing to the minutes of meetings held in September and October 2005. And on the other hand if you can remember the

survey plan that we tabled to DS Office with information of land allocation , there were several other units such as Community Centre, Health Centre, Nursury School, Kovil, Play Ground, Shops etc. And during Year 2005 - 2006 there would have been several organisations who pledged support for them and keeping confidence in them , The Late Minister, Late DS would have agreed to provide land and support your fathers efforts. If not the houses were built only for the sake of errecting physical structures without life. NOW - After My team is involved July 2008 - We have not brought to your notice ealier since we discussed only about putting these houses back in order to a stage that humans can occupy them and to support / mobilize communities/ beneficiaries and coordinate with relevant authorities to ensure that the required state services are distributed to the beneficiaries,criteria of selection is justified and to generate community awareness for the project. During the last two months we had the priviledge of meeting several stake holders and Public Admin leaders of the area. The information collected was analysed in detail. The projects completed in the area have been unsuccessful due to many reasons. the major been non coordination with local authorities and not providing basic requirements and community spaces. On the other hand clear information with regard to water project and expected completion dates were confirmed only during my last visit.Then we know that it is not ethically correct for us to leave this site only because construction is completed and that DS could hand over buildings. This need of a building is an outcome from a close analysis of the discussions we had with several community members, Government Officers of the area. Until future developments are done by the government a common building could be used for several services that could be coordinated by the DS - Such as Health, Education, Distribution of food and other aid to lower income groups, security etc. This will be some transitional assistance for DS and the community. What we suggested was one building out of many requirements so that this could be used as a multi functional common building that could be used until further developments are done by the government. This will also add value to the houses.beneficiaries know that there is a space that they could utilise for common purposes they are sure to obtain the state services easily at one location than requesting individually. And the service providers - Government or non government will find it convenient to support a group at one location on one occassion as no one will have the capacity to do community development individually.

At CARE meeting this was one question highlighted - " If we are to meet the beneficiaries where can we meet them" how could we address them at once? I need to include the following information as well - some political / social backgrounds that influences these requirements. Our assumption was that there will be other organisations who will support when we coordinate transparently. Unfortunatetly except for the State services - Divisional Secretary Mr. Alagarathnam, Security Forces, The OIC Police and Electrical Engineer and Water Board Engineer and CARE International non other organisation is concerned about the efforts. For very clear reasons - The other INGO and Donors Agenda / Mandate or the reasons for providing Humanitarian Assistance to the needy people is not the concern of - Late Mr. Federicio Stella and You have towards unfortunate or poor people. Divisional Secretary who is the head of Public Administration for the division have no funds issued from the central government for development work.For the last 25 years this area was out of control from the Government of Sri Lanka. Since the GoSL cleared the area from terrorists Large scale infrastructure developments are launched - Water, Electricity, Main Roads and the other subjects are covered by them gradually while UN and Donor agencies support for other social requirements.But now INGOs are not supporting Goverment efforts. The INGO's who were working in the area have not been transparent in their work and with the recent findings that some of them directly or inderectly have supported the terrorists the government have imposed strict conditions to implement their projects. The result is that they closed field offices of the area and shut down majority of projects. THE GUYS IN THE TEAM. 1.S. Jemettakan 2 Vinoth Lal Dharme 3. Vijayan Lalith Kumar 4. Milroy Perera 5.Upali Singhathilaka 6 Sunil Swarnasiri 7. Chamari Abeysinghe Look Forward to hear from you God Bless You ,

Sure


A: [email protected]: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected]

Hi Sure,

I'm back at work now.

I red what you wrote about the community center and i ask you to read carefully all the following lines, where i reply to your previous emails and where i summarize the aim of the actual project and i explain you how i am considering other future projects.

Actual Project - 23 houses:

The goal of the original project was to build 30 houses for homeless people affected by the tsunami.After all the problems that affected the area,and the destruction of 7 of them and the rising in the cost of construction materials we opted for the completion of 23 houses out of the original 30.

That said, the aim of this project was, and is, the construction of the houses for 23 homeless families. The project will be completed only when these families will enter the houses and start to live inside these houses.

We are not -and we've never been- meant to build a whole village, or anything else (including a community center) more than these 23 houses,

And this is because my family is the only sponsor of this project, and the expenses that we already incurred are momentous; because of this, we are not able to produce any further economical effort, other than what we've already produced which is enough to complete the construction of 23 houses.

Future Project:

Then, once this first project will be over, i would love to create a fund rising foundation in order to collect other funds and money and to keep working with you for the construction of other and new utilities and facilities in that area.As we said this summer i'm aware of all the things that we could do other than building 23 houses, and the community center is one among those things.We could also build shops, or a school, or a small hospital etc.

But again, in order to build all these buildings i need funds, and i need to find a way to collect these funds first, as my family cannot afford to devolve other money.The best way to collect these money is to start a fundation and organize fund rising events.

Rising funds is anyway something complicated and not easy at all.In order to do it, I need to be able to prove that:

- I am a trustworthy person, and for this my father's name is something of some help, but it's not enough.To prove that i am trusworthy, the best thing is to provide donors proof of some past work that i've done.

- the people who work for me are trustworthy as well. To prove this, the best thing is to show what you are doing in Thirukkovil now, once the 23 houses project will be over.

- I have a valid and defined project and enough people working with me to complete it.

Once i will be able to provide these three things, i will start to have some credibility to ask people to give me money for charity:)

Until then, and until this first and actual project will be over, every possible discussion about starting to build new things will be premature.

Presents/bonus:

thank you for giving me the number of guys working for you in the construction and realization of this project. I needed it because, as i once told you - and i hope i don't have to regret it - me and my family decided that it would be a right and great thing to reward anyone involved in this project, once this will be over.

As you know, this project means a lot to me and to my family, and it's a small yet noble initiative that we are trying to realize to be of any help for families and individuals that are not as lucky as we are. In this sense I thought that it was a nice thought to find a way to show gratitude and appreciation to the ones (you, Vinoth and your 6 guys) who, more than everyone else, helped us in realizing this initiative, once everything will be over.

In order to consider this initiative completed and to consider the possibility of giving any kind of reward, the whole project has to be over - 23 families have to live in 23 new houses.

I hope that this email can clarify some possible issues and help you understand better the whole picture.

I''m looking forward to hear other news from you soon, and thank you once again for all the good and great job you are doing - we are almost there.

A big ciao

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me, jimmy


Dear Gio, Thank you for the good wishes.Yes I am at home with kids and happy. On behalf of my team I wish you, your mother and the rest at home the very best of life. Wish all of you be wealthy with happiness and that you profit from good health. Talking about updates since my last visit and the pictures that I have sent you I am awaiting some pictures thro vinoth who is at the site for last two weeks. He did not come home for christmas as the work is on.But I am informed that they have competed all roof works, and completed plastering 60% of the houses. Floor works are on and they done the paint of one house.

Whats remaining is fixing the doors and windows, Paint work, Plaster of few houses, floors, and the septic tank. With the monsoon rains the water level of the area has increased and they have been unable to excavate even 2 feet for the septic tank. This is a new point that we experienced. It is very pleasing and important to know that you bring your mother here.So Timing to end the project I would say it is End January 2009. And when you arrive here in couple of months - it will be interesting to note people actually live in these houses. Having said that you may wonder the costs involved in labour for the period and admin costs . I will analyse this and inform you in next mail. At the same time I have attached the progress report I have done for the authorities - all stake holders. I also held the second meeting with Ministers Son - and he is keen to support in what ever he could, subsequent to the meeting I had with him I was directed to the Minister in charge of North East Rehabilitation - the Ministry of Nations Building. They are trying to assist the people who will occupy the houses in the priority needs.I need to initiate this thro DS. He was very keen in finding the total value your father, you and the family have donated to this project. This is a general request from all donors so that the National Budget record the gifts received from well wishers- local & expats, INGOs and NGOs. I have stated that I am not aware but have tabled the cost I have budgeted and that you have delivered. Next - I have to visit and justify the list of beneficiaries, initiate discussions with them through the DS, appoint a leader from their side, request DS to appoint the village officer for this small village and coordinate their communication with respective authorities.According to the Ministry the new famillies should request their needs through the DS office and I will communicate this to DS.During the last two weeks of January I plan to invite the receipients of these houses to be a part of their work - for clearing up the lands, paint work , to plant some trees etc. Up to now I did not want to invite them as the major construction works are on and managing a greater crowd requires more effort and as we have all material and equipment at site I would have had to take additional pressure in stock control. Minister Nehru is facilitating the required coordination for Land demarcation through the

Ministry and the Government Agents office in consultation with DS and He communicated with the Area Engineer for electricity. The engineer advised that the connections will be given immeadiatly on request from the beneficiaries once they occupy the houses. Reference your recent mail I am 100% aware that we did not plan or pledge a development of a village. But this new settlement is approx 7 km away from both nearby small towns hence an isolated unit.There are several Admin and social requirements they would expect under state assistance and on the other hand authorities are accountable for providing them. I am only trying to get this authority act together. It would take a little time. But I am so far successful at least that the political structure and public admin structures are aware of this development and no one has opposed this. If you note carefully This is one part of my agreement with you and one that have been greatly emphasized in my first proposal. My team is capable of the activities related. Only thing is that I need to find the capacity to support the logistical costs. That is why I approach organisations such as CARE INTERNATIONAL. who have their total mission around community development. If they take over from one end with the DS we are freed from the project and I would sign off that the project is a success. I am talking the reality - this area was isolated for 25 years and normal conditions do not apply here. When we analyse a cross section of this soceity they have never been exposed to development since the tsunami. So on side tsunami had brought them hope but few months later the operations against terrorists were launched and the developments stopped. Once GoSL had taken full control and the provincial elections were held mass scale infrastructure works have been given the prority.The costs for them are analysed and provided from the de -centralized budget. Therefore DS do not have enough money. He only request organisations and donors to support in whatever they can.At times one may think that they only try to squeeze a donor/organisation to an extent that they must support which is not the correct perception or definition.They request and if not provided or received they would approach another and so on. Our project been a tiny unit will have to sustain in this environment. "I have a valid and defined project and enough people working with me to complete it." - perhaps you remember this statement - from your last mail So I am trying to live up to this with my team.will send you another update from the site throgh Vinoth before I leave colombo tommorrow night. As all the laboures and Vinoth are at site for the new year. I must join them for many reasons. So for now I remain.RegardsGod Bless You.Sure. Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 05 gennaio 2009

04.05


Dear Gio

All the best for the New Year The latest news from Thirukkovil Jimmy, Vinoth myself and the rest of the team was at the site on 31st night and had a small celebration with total working team. They all are away from homes and families hence we thought it’s a morale support for a program of this nature. As stated to you in my previous mail we can complete works by end January. The vital requirement for the project is met. The Ministry of Nations Building the main constitutional authority of the government have officially accounted for the project. Hon. Minister Mr. Susantha Punchinilame have officially written and ordered the Divisional secretary of thirukkovil to attend to the water mater. The letter state that if the Govt/ UNICEF Joint Project for Drinking water is not covering the 23 houses water requirement the water engineer should analyse the small tube well and send the cost of utilizing the tube well and construction of a water tank. I am sending the copy with Jimmy – its written in Sinhala language – jimmy will translate this and explain the importance. The important fact here is that we have been able to get the related government authorities act together. The Political structure and the administrative structure are aware of the project and we have officially written to them and the two authorities have exchanged their notes. Therefore, the families who will physically benefit with the kind endowerment of your family will be attended by these two authorities for the required state assistance. This guarantee that the land demarcation and required permits – ownership of the land will be transferred to the beneficiary families and from there on the beneficiaries will have official rights to request all other social assistance such as electricity, schools for children, police reports and National ID cards, permanent addresses etc etc. So I am happy that we have been able to achieve a major requirement for the families and have kept the word as boasted about the capacity of my team and your investment is not a waste. On January 1st 2009, Mr.. Alagarathnam – DS Thirukkovil visited the site with the

information that he too have received a letter from the Ministry. He visited with the technical officer and the land will be re surveyed and marked. Jimmy also discussed the progress with him. Also it was Mr. Alagarathnams Birthday.Next week he will provide us with a date and we are having the beneficiary meeting. The formats for land demarcation – (if you can remember during your visit here at the GA Office meeting these formats were tabled for our information) will be filled by beneficiaries and DS will send them to Land commissioner. After this we will invite the beneficiaries to site and they will start the cleaning up, putting up a fence, planting some trees etc etc. Having said all above I am also requesting you some additional support to cover only the additional labour and food for them. We identified this at the time of water shortage but without informing you we approached few organisations. So far it is unsuccessful.. At the time of water shortage we were unable to do speedy construction as planned. At times water was only sufficient to meet the basic daily needs. The working team had to be provided with meals and they were utilized for other basic works which was not productive. We planned to complete works by Christmas 2008. To speed up the construction we brought in another team of workers as the cost of labour here is almost double the price we pay in colombo. I am requesting this labour cost only upto January. The amount is Rs.440800/=There are 9 persons – working from 26th Dec 2008 31st. Labour days – 53, January 31 days x9 = 279 days totalling to 322 days.

Cost 322000.00

Electrical Persons 2 32000.00 Meals 2800/= per day for the total crowd at site from January 1st Only = 86800.00 Please also note that this request is not a must – that you should do. With the timing I have failed to obtain some support from any organisation. But I thought I shall be honest to send this detail. Only thing is that I will have to take a little more time and might have to cover admin cost of my team. This is also not included in the above. But I have to anyway cover it so I do not include it. We – Jimmy, Vinoth, Jemet and myself discussed the other points to go forward.1. At the beneficiary meeting we will display the model of the house.2. Considering that these people do not have anything and that they be satisfied with

what they get free of charge we will obtain written consent that they will occupy the house. If someone do not want we do not give

3. There are enough under privileged people we could select.4. We ask the DS to appoint the village officer from his office who shall be in

charge of these families and to assist them.5. The village officer in consultation with DS and the families will appoint a

coordinator for the families selected from these benefiting families6. If the water takes time we hand over our pump and leave the responsibility with

Village officer and coordinator who shall discuss with other families and share at least the drinking water.

7. we will hand over the site through DS so that from there on villagers will not require us for their needs.

8. DS is confident that he order the selected families to stay in the houses and not let them run away to the IDP settlements.

9. In such cases the house will be re possessed and given to another. This will be a written condition where DS takes total responsibility.

So this is enough for the moment. We hope that you will be here in a couple of months to see the houses Once again on behalf of the team Wish you and your mother and rest at home good health and happiness always.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 08 gennaio 2009

01.04A: [email protected]: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

and happy new year!!

So, being honest the first thing I thought reading your email has been "Wow, this is great news!!"So once again compliments for all your hard work.It is really good to think that houses are almost finished and ready to be occupied.

I won't say anything else for the moment, and I'll keep my joy for when everything will be over:)

For now, there are still some issues that I would like to discuss with you.

1) Finishing this project:i don't wanna to sound boring or redundant, but we (you) are almost there and we can see the ending line..keep pushing hard in this last month to finish everything and to achieve this great result, otherwise all this effort will go to waste once again.

2) The expense summary: I will check with Jimmy what else and how much of the amount you wrote about we can cover. Hopefully we'll make it so that you won't have to worry about.I'll keep you updated on this.

3) I agree with each and every one of the things you,Jimmy,Vinoth and Jemet discussed.Nevertheless I am still a bit concerned about the water issue.

What I fear is that beneficiaries won't be able or willing to stay there at the houses because they still won't have tap water. In that case, would your pump provide them enough water for all beneficiaries needs? Or could it be not enough still?Let's imagine the worst scenario, like saying that your pump is not enough and they have no other sources to get water from: how could we avoid that they abandon the houses in such a case?I know that you said that this is goin to be DS duty, and he will make sure that everybody stay there. But do you think that this will effectively happen?

In other words, is there anything else that we could do to be sure that the houses won't be abandoned once finished and ready?

I know that i might sound boring asking you always the same things, but i need to know that we have a plan for each possible scenario that may come out.

I'll talk to you very soon, take care for now and God bless.

Ciao

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 11 gennaio 2009 00.04


Dear Gio, Thanks for your reply. May be Jimmy and you have had time to meet. I thought I give you a quick update on the Water issue. If we leave our pump for the use of beneficiaries; In first place - Tap water is not a must for the people to be in and occupy. Its only the matter of making Drinking water available. For other requirements - there are few water sources where people could improvise on, until main stream supply is available. Our pump - At present we pump and fill approx 1500 litres at least four times a day - there were times that we had 20 + members working at site and we extracted water for daily needs and construction work, therefore to cover a minimum of drinking water and the minimum daily needs for 23 families - I am sure that the capacity of the well is enough.

Our pump could extract water from about 30 feet and the team generally have a main focus on starting the pump several times a day thus making this a priority activity everyday but with the familis I cannot think that they will keep a constant eye on this.we will have to provide stock tank and provide a solution and a good pump - while doing all the coordinating work with DS and the UN / Govt water project to ensure that the people of this village are included in the list of beneficiaries from the main water project. Any way the prevailing climatic condition is that ground water level is at a higher point until April and deteriorate from there until September /October. Therefore the solution we could provide should sustain without a problem and once community claim ownership they will take over responsibility for further developments. Specially when there are so many who says the area do not have clear drinking water we witness a pure drinking water source at the site. And this will be an asset for this small community. In the mean time I will communicate with the UN/ Govt Water project and obtain some documented info to be satisfied and confimed that the people will not be left out. Expence whatever you could cover - you could send to our account. I am leaving to Thirukkovil now and will keep in touch.ThanksSure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 19 gennaio 2009 22.28


Hi Sure,

hope you are doing well.

This week i am flying back to Milan (on Thursday) so I'll be able to send you the moneyfor the expenses.

How is the construction going? Are we close to the end? Did you have the meeting with the beneficiaries to assign houses?As we are close to the end of January we should be close to the end,aren't we?Will you be able to deliver the houses before the end of the month?

It'd be a great thing to have done that by the end of January, and to have the beneficiaries starting to taking care of the houses themselves.

I also need to know it because i have to take a decision on when to come to Sri Lanka to visit the houses and to define eventual further steps and projects with you.

Please give me an update ASAP and please do your best to finish the construction ASAP, as we are already almost in February.

I'll let you know when i will have sent the money.

I wait to hear back from you, in the meanwhile take care and God bless.

[email protected] <[email protected]> 22 gennaio 2009 06.24


Dear Gio, Thanks for your reply, Yes we are trying the level best to deliver the houses ASAP - end January. We were unable to meet and conduct the beneficiary meeting. Though we are ready for the meeting the Divisional Secretary required a little time for this.However now it is finalized and yesterday, DS called and informed that he is inviting the beneficiaries to the site next week. That will be 29th January. From there onwards beneficiaries will be a part of the program with direct involvement. Official Handing over - Mr. Chandranehru will visit the project in first week February. This was informed by him yesterday and he requested me to wait for his arrival. In one way it is good.This involvements receive official status and recognition to the program and appropriate milege. To be very honest I am not waiting to receive publicity for my team on this. I have to respect these requests on behalf of the beneficiaries who will live here. with these invovements the beneficiary families have the opportunity of direct contact with the respective authorities. So from the next week meeting the schedules required for land ownership for beneficiaries - tabled at the meeting when you were here - will be sent to Government Agents office and Land commissioner with the recomendation from DS. I will have to closely monitor and engaged in this to expidiate matters. Once This documentation is sent to GA Office my task will be to obtain written confirmation to the effect that the scheduled families have approval and

blessings of the authority to occupy, live and develop their new home as they wish subjected to general terms of land use as enjoyed by any other citizen.This confirmation will be a common letter and we will copy them and distribute to individual families for their benfit. Since, DS and minister is involved we should not have any major issue in this regard. And I will also consult them and keep you informed for you to take a decission on your visit to Sri Lanka. Water - The engineer of the main water project was contacted and he confirmed that the water is ready from February 2009. This will be one main subject at the beneficiary meeting. However we have the contingency plan. Contingency Plan for Water-If you remember we discussed to hand over one house to a person who formerly ( during previous construction efforts under prasudi ) engaged with the project. We approached him and informed this - perhaps three months ago. He never showed up to the site with interest. He also have a good house partly built at the Thirukkovil town. May be that is the reason for not been interested. During Jimmys stay here we found a deserving person - who should have a house. He is working for us at the site for a very low rate. We visited him on the 1st of January. I am attaching a photo of his present house status - that is a temporary shed. Some organisations have promised him a house but We dont see that he will benefit in the near future. We thought we inform this to you and give the house reserved for previous person with clear documentation and approval and blessings from DS, to this deserving guy.. If that is agreed by everyone and if he is happy - We leave our water pump with him built a small tower with concrete and install A plastic tank so that the water issue is sorted out and this will remain as a stand by water source for this small village forever. This guys name is Mr. Suthakaran.I have discussed this with DS and he agreed, while Vinoth is talking to him indirectly to identify if he is happy receiving a house from our project. Attached are some photo graphs detailing his background. I am travelling to site by this week end and will be there for the whole week and communicate with DS, Beneficiaries and Minister and will keep you updated. Vinoth will send me some feed back today evening or tommorow and I will keep you posted.

So wish you good health and happiness.CheersSure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 28 gennaio 2009 01.37


Hi Sure,

sorry if I reply just now but i've been away for some days and i couldn't send you a proper email.

After reading your email i was wondering why is it taking so long to finish the construction and - most of all - to deliver and assign houses? When we met this summer you assured me that everything would have been finished by the end of November.After a while we then agreed that end of December would have been more realistic.

Now we're almost in February and houses are still not finished and still to be given to beneficiaries:why isn't possible to finish everything and assign those houses?

I'm asking you this as i'm starting to feel uncomfortable with this delay, and honestly i don't see the reason why the assignation process is taking so long.

2 months have passed already since the end of november, and still the conclusion of this project seems to be a bit blurry and "undefined": could you please tell me why?

I'm sure that you have explanations to prove me that i'm getting too much nervous for nothing,but still i'd be more that happy if you could give me a definitive answer to those 2 questions.

That said,i've been back home and i've settled things for a money transfer, which will be cleared when houses will be assigned and finished.

I'm really looking forward to hear from you soon.

Take care

Gio

Giovanni Stella

a Surendra, jimmy, vinomarath

mostra dettagli 31 gen

Hi Sure, Any update about the houses? Today is Jan.31, and by this date we really should be done with the construction and the assignation.

Are we done with the construction and with the assignation of the houses to beneficiaries? On January 29 you were supposed to have a meeting with the beneificiaries to finally assing the houses:how did it go? As you wrote me in the past this meeting has been postponed several times, I'm assuming this time was the good one. I'm waiting for an update on this. I'd also ask you to take some pictures of the houses as I'd like to see how the construction proceeded and what the outcome was Please let me know ASAP. Thank you very much Gio

From: <[email protected]>Date: 2009/2/10Subject: Thirukkovil housesTo: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Hope you received the photos Following is the update, with the information you requested thro your message on February 3rd 2009. A/ LIST OF BENEFICIARIES ACCORDING TO HOUSE NUMBER - Houses numbered in a way that each row start from right hand side to left hand ( Potthuvil / Arugam Bay Side to Thirukkovil Side )

1. S.SINNATHURAI -2. S.SUTHAKARAN3. A.THAMOTHARAM4. P.THIYAGARAJ5. N.NADARAJ6. K.RAMARAJ7. M.RAMAYAH8. K.THILAYAPPALAM9. V.SOMASUNDERAM10.S.SHANMUGANATHAN

11.S.YOGAMANI12.S.PARAMESWARI13.P.INDRADEVI14.B.SARASWATHI15.S.WIJAYAKUMAR16.N.VINAYAGAMOORTHY17.K.SELVARASA18.K.MAHENDRAN19.V.KANTHAMALLAR20.V.PALAN21.K.AMEERTHAM22.A.ARMUKAM23.S.THANGAMMA

Selection of beneficiaries - as agreed the criteria was - people who do not have one and who cannot afford to build one on their own. The selection was made by Divisional secretary with 6 different grama seveka officers and the Minister of Eastern Provincial Council. We have obtained the details of these beneficiaries and have interviewed them to understand if the information given by them were correct. From the list of 45 initially idenified DS with the said officers have finalized the list of 22 and we included the name of S.Suthakaran after discussion and clearance from the DS. DS addresed the gathering and informed the following 1. How and why the project was started in 20052. Construction works stopped due to reasons un explained and the unfortunate death of Your father.3.Site been abandoned4.Re activation by you with my team5.How the selection was made6.Any questions or concerns of the gathering re the families selected as beneficiaries He stated that the selection is made from 6 different villages including people who are displaced due to recent issues at south of sri lanka and that he is 90% or more confident that the selection is transparent. Few from the beneficiary families expressed their views to second the statement of DS and the people who were present expecting a house but who did not receive one did not raise any issue or made any complain to us.

Folded papers with numbers of houses were laid on a chair and the beneficiaries had to take their chance to select a piece of paper from the lot and they had to accept the number they receive. The letter - attached herewith was signed by each beneficiary and we have handed over the documents to DS office for certification from each Grama seveka officer ( village officer) and the DS which will be sent to GA Office and Land commission. Beneficiaries were advised to take charge of their house and atart clearing the area around their house untill the Land Plot Numbers are given and the correct borders are given by Surver department thro DS. From the 4th of february beneficiaries were at site to clean up their house gardens. B. Completing Construction works & The delay in construction - You requested some information to understand why it is taking so long to finish the construction - First I accept the that the delay was from my part - as I had not accessed the total 23 houses individually in detail.Tough the houses have been constructed to one plan there are differences in each house in measurements and the condition of constructed parts. - height, length and breath, cracks on walls etc. As a result our production plan worked only in respect of the Door Window Frames and sashes which we did at our factory and all works at site varies from each other for the 23 houses. The variation for concrete columns, re sizing openings, reconstructing damaged walls, re adjusting wall heights, absorption of paint and motar to the dried walls varied from each other and on top of these the non availability of water for works and at times for daily consumption for basic needs. The other was the non productive intervention of Minister Mr. Nehru who had blocked the DS of moving forward and my self who wasted enough time until solutions are provided by him. Now I have taken decisions with DS and the provincial minister. These delays - increase of time taken and differences of construction had brought about several issues

1. pushed the date of completion2. incurred additional maintenance cost due to non productive time - time without water3. the labour for the period have to be paid4.the money in hand for material cement/ accessories had to be utilised for labour maintenance5.estimated quantities of some material not sufficient6. delayed finalizing beneficiaries C.DELAY IN ASSIGNING HOSES During your visit The DS Thirukkovil and deputy Land commissioner explained the process of land trasfer to us. The DS Need to send the beneficiary information and a requisition to the GA Office and Land Commissioner to divide the land with proper road access to houses. Now he will do this as the beneficiaries are assigned . The community who settle in here will be assigned with a new GN Division as they presently belong to several divisions the other authorities will be notified accordingly. DS had to start the process all new as there are no documents regarding the land transfer or approval to build on this land obtained when the construction had started in 2005 I have met the Minister of Eastern Provincial Council Mr. Selvarasa regarding this development as instructed by DS. Once the land is survered - end february 2009 we can release a letter certified and countersigned by - Divisional Secretary and the Provincial Council to the beneficiaries granting authority for them to occupy the houses. This letter will be legally accepted and binding to proove ownership for occupancy until the deed documents are done. We have to wait until the land is surveyed and lot number to each house is allocated to include this number in the letter / certificate. DS requested us to wait until he get the land marked and the Minister will be available to officially hand over the houses. However once construction is complete I will not evacuate from the site untill the lots and the documentation is completed.

We are not happily extending the time spent here at the site. but some issues are beyond our control but what i could state is that we will not abandon the site like the last time. OTHER In reply to my last mail you replied that you will be able to send some money for the expenses. A week later you stated that you will send that after assigning the houses. It is understandable as you know what happened to your fathers initial effort and investment. As explained to you very clearly what I requested was to cover these expenses including food. Unfortunately I had to provide minimum facilities and food to the team of workers during this month of January to date with what ever I had forgetting the material required. The xpense for Labour and Food for them for a low productive period. I am not requesting you more money by this statement. All I did now is reduce the number of labour at site and complete the balance work with my labour and the few team members I have. Anyway if you feel that I have cheated you or If I will cheat or runaway if I have plans to do so I will never get into agreement with you. All i know is that I will complete these houses and hand them over to the needy people who have been assigned the houses. The very reason that I have opened up this project to the respective authorities, security and defence, Public Admin Authorities, Political Structure etc is not only to complete the construction but to have the recognition and to avoid any difficulty that the occupants would face in future. I have attached the letter we gave the beneficiaries for signature and what was handed over to DS. The next mail to you should be with another step forward. The pictures are sent to you in the previous mail.Sure. Giovanni Stella

a Surendra, jimmy

mostra dettagli 10 feb


> italiano


and thank you for the pictures. I have to tell you that it's really touchy for me and Jimmy to finally see those people outside the houses, as well as to see that houses are almost finished.

Let me clarify one thing, and please read carefully all the following:

I have NEVER suspected or thought that you were cheating us, or that you haven't been honest in these months, otherwise i wouldn't be putting my trust in you.

I strongly believe that you've done a great job, and once everything will be over i (and my family Jimmy included) will always be thankful to you and to your team for making this whole thing possible. I know what gratitude is, and I know how much important is to recognize things for what they are:this whole project has always been very complicated, and your efforts are making our hopes come true.I also promised you a bonus at the end of everything, which is nothing else than a way to show you my gratitude, because i truly believe in this.

Nevertheless, I have responsabilities over this project towards my family, my father, Jimmy, you and your team.Among these responsabilities i have to make sure that me and all other stakeholders involved (again my family+Jimmy and everyone who gave money or time for this project back in Milan) receive adequate informations and updates. You always gave me updates, but in this last period - as things are approaching to an end - I need to be constantly updated on what is going on.You have to keep in mind that it is not easy to be on the other side of the world waiting for news from a remote part of land in such a troubled country.

I already seen this project fail some years ago, and i don't want this to happen again, therefore i am apprehensive and i need to receive constant news from you, and i will keep on being apprehensive and stress you out even more until the whole thing will be over.

A lot of money have been put into this project, and we will never get anything back from it but this people's happiness:as you can imagine,i can't accept to fail to answer to my family's questions about how the project is going.

Also,when i was there this summer and asked you for a due date you said end of November. After a while we decided for end of December.Then, after Jimmy came to site, he told me that the construction could be over by the end of January.By the end of January the meeting with DS was being postponed again, and houses were not finished yet.

You sent me pictures of the houses only 2 times before today, and you never gave me a deep,full explanation (as you did today instead) of why the construction was taking so long.

Lastly, we agreed on a certain amount of money,and we signed a contract about this were you stated that you wouldn't have needed other money. Still, there have been unexpected problems and delays, and now more money are needed, money which i agreed to send.

There can be a reason for everything and for every possible delay and we can agree on any other due date, but i need to know it, otherwise it's really hard for me to keep track of how things are going. And again, it's hard for me to go back to the other stakeholders and explain them why there are delays, if I myself don't know exactely what is going on.

I hope this can clarify you things, and it can explain you why i've been more nervous lately.

That said, we are almost there, and as i said before it's hard to describe the joy i feel seeing those pictures that you sent me.Still though, the project is not finished yet, as houses are still to be finished and completely assigned.

Is people able to live in the houses already?How long it will take to finish the construction?Is it all clear with Mr. Nerhu or is there anything we need to do - do you want me to write him or do something?When Land Numbers will be sent?Once construction will be over and land numbers will be sent, will there be anything else missing?

Thank you for this update, I'm looking forward to hear from you about this issues.

God bless you and your family.

Ciao,

GioSurendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 12 febbraio 2009 06.58A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, I clearly understand your points.You are held accountable for everything happening for the money you channel to this project. Even I had not expected this kind of a delay. If I remember soon after I deployed my team to start the work I did inform you that the budgeted figure will not change. Within two day of starting work we found clear water which was the main problem. We obtained temporary electricity from the main lines. The factory production of windows and doors were completed within first month. I had nothing to worry. That is why I re confirmed that the budget would not change. Anyway things changed from this pattern. In early January we planned to complete everything by 31st. I informed you about the situation and some expenses needed to be covered.

I expected as in your mail that you would send it when you are in milan or so as mentioned in your mail. However within a week the decission changed for reasons as you explained. By this time I re activated works with the crowd I had and as mentioned to you the part of this cost was to provide food for the working team only for the month of January. May be you were not clearly explained in my mail. The result was that I, with what ever funds I had for accessories and material covered a part of labour cost for another non productive period without required material and covered the food expense. Assigning houses , I gave you dates what I discuss with DS but the meeting schedule change due to many reasons. I have no authority to conduct a public meeting to distribute a land belonging to someone else, or even if I did so the beneficiaries will have to face the problems later. When DS was at site on January 1st we plan to have it on 14th January 2009 but things changed and we managed to have it on February 3rd. The houses are completely assigned and with the DS approval beneficiary families are registered in his file, they have been given permission to do the necessary gardening and clearing for their homes and people have taken control of it. Of course If I fix the doors and windows people can occupy when the status of their present shelter is concerned. Some would even come and stay without doors.But I could not allow this until the lot no is received. DS will also not obstruct them occupying the house but the background of this program is not very healthy for such a decission, the track record of the is not good. Some one from anywhere could raise an issue to the occupants DS or myself for not formalising things. Finishing construction - once the material is purchased I will inform you.After January I purposely slowed the progress due to my inability to draw funds from other sources and the time that would be taken for the land demarcation.Even if I finish my team will have to protect the site until land works are done. I am not in a position to guess as we worked the program from the reverse side. Generally the land is allocated and then you start construction, in our case we build first on unknown land and then request documentation. This has to be tackled carefully to ensure people get the benefit and justice is made to your donation. Nehru - he is no longer contacted by me regarding this program and there is nothing he could do at the moment. Because the DS have assigned the houses to selected beneficiaries without any objection comming up from the public and

the Eastern Provincial Council is notified. He only delayed the DS decission according to my knowledge. And he is not the minister in charge of the area. I had sent him three mails during last month but no reply and I refrain from any further correspondence. However we discussed with a person who was at site during construction works under prasudi, that he would get a house but he never showed up interest. secondly he have got a good house at Thirukkovil and according to our criteria DS could not select him as a needy person.This person has contacted prasudi and prasudi have advised him to occupy the first and only house plastered during 2005. Prasudi should stay away from any further instructions or interference. Once land numbers are received I am doing the letter to beneficiary , which is signed by Divisional Secretary and the Eastern Provincial Council which will have the Lot number of Land, Name of owner which is the document these families should posses to proove they are legally occupying the house.After some time the Assistant Commissioner of Provincial Lands, will send them the deeds. So there is nothing missing but from there onwards people have to go on their own with the respective state authorities. If we do not combine these matters sooner or later the occupants could face problems. They cannot request water, electricity, mailing addresses, state assistance etc.The Govt alway have the right to aqquire any land in this country for development. But when they find that people live in - LEGALLY , these people are 100% guaranteed with a new house and land to a similar value. After my next letters to the National Water Board, Ceylon Electricity Board, Ministry of Nations Building and the Transport board I will inform you. I am not clear if you are sending the money whatever you can now or later. Pleae advise on that. Coming back to my previous mail I send you mails or letters just obeying myself, and genuinly what I feel, I do not fabricate them or get opinions. I expressed what I felt.Cause I ran a difficult month with my team with many shortcomings in an area we do not have anyone. RegardsSurrendra.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 18 febbraio 2009 00.11

A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

as I was in Milan last week I spoke to my family and I agreed with my family to have money sent to your account in the coming days.It might be the case that this money will be sent in 2 tranches, as they should be coming from 2 different accounts.

Anyway, you will have the equivalent (or slightly more) of 441.000 Rupees.

Once again, I urge you understand that this money were not estimated when we signed the contract, so you cannot pretend to have them for granted or to receive them straight away.Also, I had to explain to my family deeply and in a detailed way why we need to send more money, and I had to have their agreement, which was not easy.

Finally, I convinced everyone about the necessity of this money to be sent, and I explained that, as I put and have all my complete trust in you and in your team, there were solid reasons for you not to be able to complete the construction within the originally allocated amount of money.

So as I said you will receive this money shortly.

This said, we now need to define next steps, in order to finish this job that you almost managed to carry to an end.

1)

We need to have those Land numbers given and assigned, so that we can be sure that the houses will finally be 100% assigned and livable.When this will happen?Do you have any precise date? It's really important that we get to know this, as it's the last crucial part of this assignation process.

2)

When will be the construction finished?What are the exact details of what is still missing?How many houses are finished, and how many are yet to be completed? And among those that need to be completed what are the missing parts? When will you be finished with the construction?

I kindly ask you to answer to each and every of these single questions, and to go deep in details, as it's really important for me to understand all these issues.

Also, I can assure you that Prasuudi will stay away from this project, as I totally agree with you on this matter.You are the one who is managing to complete the project, so I won't let anyone step in and claim for a piece of the cake, not even Prasuudi.

Hope that everything is clear.Let me know if you have any question or complain, or if there's anything that I need to explain better.From my side, I need to have an answer on those things that I asked you and, most of all, I want to see the houses finished and assigned very soon, with people living inside them.We are almost there.

Take care and ciao.

Gio

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Subject: Re:To: "Surendra Wijerathne" <[email protected]>Cc: "jimmy marathy" <[email protected]>Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 11:11 PM

Hi Sure,

as I was in Milan last week I spoke to my family and I agreed with my family to have money sent to your account in the coming days.It might be the case that this money will be sent in 2 tranches, as they should be coming from 2 different accounts.

Anyway, you will have the equivalent (or slightly more) of 441.000 Rupees.

Once again, I urge you understand that this money were not estimated when we signed the contract, so you cannot pretend to have them for granted or to receive them straight away.Also, I had to explain to my family deeply and in a detailed way why we need to send more money, and I had to have their agreement, which was not easy.

Finally, I convinced everyone about the necessity of this money to be sent, and I explained that, as I put and have all my complete trust in you and in your team, there were solid reasons for you not to be able to complete the construction within the originally allocated amount of money.

So as I said you will receive this money shortly.

This said, we now need to define next steps, in order to finish this job that you almost managed to carry to an end.

1)

We need to have those Land numbers given and assigned, so that we can be sure that the houses will finally be 100% assigned and livable.When this will happen?Do you have any precise date? It's really important that we get to know this, as it's the last crucial part of this assignation process.

2)

When will be the construction finished?

What are the exact details of what is still missing?How many houses are finished, and how many are yet to be completed? And among those that need to be completed what are the missing parts? When will you be finished with the construction?

I kindly ask you to answer to each and every of these single questions, and to go deep in details, as it's really important for me to understand all these issues.

Also, I can assure you that Prasuudi will stay away from this project, as I totally agree with you on this matter.You are the one who is managing to complete the project, so I won't let anyone step in and claim for a piece of the cake, not even Prasuudi.

Hope that everything is clear.Let me know if you have any question or complain, or if there's anything that I need to explain better.From my side, I need to have an answer on those things that I asked you and, most of all, I want to see the houses finished and assigned very soon, with people living inside them.We are almost there.

Take care and ciao.

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 19 febbraio 2009 05.56A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Thanks Gio for your reply, if you could advise some idea of the date I would receive money. I have overdrawn my account now since January to settle a part of labour and the food costs if not I become a cheater to the hard earned people and the labour. Most Importantly I have never taken anything for granted and when it comes to hard earned money of your family I have the same respect. I do not want to tax you to have everything from you and have luxories here. Only thing is non of the organisations come in front to assist because their interior motive is totally different from the front face. It is not what your father had in his mind to have the satisfaction by help the poor. I will send you a detailed mail regarding the land details and progress update by next week. I will be at site from tuesday next week and on my return will keep you informed. I have to meet the Eastern Provincial council minister, Area

Engineer for Electricity and the Government Agent of the Area with the documents countersigned by Beneficiary families and the Divisional Secretary.ThanksSure

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Subject: Re:To: "Surendra Wijerathne" <[email protected]>Cc: "jimmy marathy" <[email protected]>Date: Friday, February 20, 2009, 9:47 AM

Hi Sure,

money has been transferred, so you should be able to receive it next week between tuesday and friday. Unfortunately I cannot tell you the exact date, as the bank accountant couldn't provide one, and transferring money to Sri Lanka takes always some time.

Please let me know when you have received everything, I will check with the bank then.

Most of all, I now need you to send me the email with the answers to all questions I made you, as I need to know how we are getting on in comparison to our goals.

Thank you and talk to you soon.

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 27 febbraio 2009 06.00A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>

Dear Gio The money have got ransfered, thanks for this. Next Steps 1. LAND NUMBERS - I ve discussed with DS and according to him they have started the process but he is unable to give a confirmed date / period. The reason is that he got to obtain services of another government department - ( Survey Generals Department ) for this land survey and due to the work load they have in this eastern province - after approx 20 years of informal admin structures those prevailed.

What we are trying is to get working from two ends - one to offer a certificate even without a land number to the effect that the occupants have priviledge of obtaining all other state services with the said certificate - ensuring that they are not asked to move away by any party and that no one treat this as a temporary/ transit shelter project. We were unable to meet the higher authority - Government Agent as he has come to colombo but will be meeting him next week Wednesday to discuss this matter. The other option is I am trying to obtain the Minstry influence to receive priority to survey this land ealier than the schedule of the seurvey department,. 2. Construction was slowed down intentionally last month due to the set backs and I reduced the no of people who was at site. I have not set a target to myself now as I have to obtain a clear understanding of the timing of the relevant authorities so that we could have the letter for occupancy is released. Based on that I am deploying my team members to work to ensure that we do not finish and just wait there providing security unti everything happens and that we do not evacuate the site and hard work that is put into this. We are delivering the doors and windows and fixing them from next week with beneficiary support Only three houses to be painted About 250 bags cement and small amount of Sand and metal required to finish the concrete slab of toilet and the floors.Red cross soceity is trying to engage with the beneficiaries with Red cross water and sanitation project Deputy project coordinator have informed me but I am not sure of timing. Will send you another update by next week. Sure We got to finish these by this month and hand over the houses for the families to celebrate the festival in April 2nd week. - That is the ministers plan but we cannot wait for the timing of all these persons. It is not an agony but time spent cannot be recovered for me so I am trying hard to release the houses from my custody to the hands of poor families.

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Subject: Re:To: "Surendra Wijerathne" <[email protected]>

Cc: "jimmy marathy" <[email protected]>Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009, 12:11 PM

Hi Sure,

I've sent you a message and you didn't answer:did you hear any news from the land commissioner?You should have seen the Government agent this Wednesday, how did it go?You also said you would have sent me an update, but I still didn't receive any: can you give me an update?

To be honest, i'm quite concerned about how things are going.

Time is passing by, and there's no relevant progress to be seen since 1 month and a half..The DS new about this houses since August, how come we still don't have the numbers to assign the houses?

More than anything, what does this mean:I have not set a target to myself now as I have to obtain a clear understanding of the timing of the relevant authorities so that we could have the letter for occupancy is released????

You asked us more money than what was stated, and we gave you money.You said you need more time, and you took more time.But something that should have been finished in November it's not been finished yet in March, which means a 4 months delay:what are we talking about?

I urge you to remember that you are the manager in charge for this job, and you have the responsability of what happens at site, and also you are the one who signed a contract accepting to complete and assign these houses.

So now i want you to give a clear plan of action on how you think you'll finish this job, as i cannot accept to hear that you didn't even set a target for yourself. Our money and efforts are at stake there, and I cannot accept to hear that the manager in charge doesn't have a target to himself to finish a project that already has a 4 months delay.

I also ask you to give me and Jimmy the DS contact/phone number, as at this stage I would like to hear from him why is it taking so long to finish the assignment.

I will call you soon anyway, in the meanwhile i'll be waiting for a serious and not annoyed update.

GioDear Gio,

As updated to you in my previous mail of Feb 27th I met the Government Agent and discussed the land survey matter. The workload they got in this area is heavy and the surveying could take a little time. According to him The DS will attend to the relevant formalities. Until then we are able to hand over the houses to beneficiaries.His advise was that I hand over the houses with a letter written to the beneficiaries as the program coordinator, approved by the DS. The beneficiaries will have to keep this letter and obtain the relevant Lot number from DS once the Land is surveyed. So now the delay is from my part, I got to complete the balance work, Floor, Electrical Wiring , and evacuate from site after handing over. In my last mail, I said that I have not set a target for myself considering that I would have to wait until the lot numbers for the land are issued. The target would then be the timing we receive the lot numbers for land after surveying. As the manager of this project my initial plan was to complete the project within three months. The 4 month delay not only affect you but all parties involved in this. Beneficiaries physically joined the program only in February 2009 and I do not have a pressure from them . Please also be positive that you and your family wealth is not at a stake this time. We are at the end of the project and last thing I want to ensure is that my efforts and involvements are not wasted as well. The construction works will end by 1st week of April and second week I have to come back with the crew. The contact Numbers of DS - 0094672265056. - Mr.Alagarathnam. My phone is lost and you will not be able to contact me over the phone.. I will send you another update after my visit to the site next week. RegardsSurrendra. Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 12 marzo 2009 01.49A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

glad to hear you are alive.

If you lost your phone how can I contact you if I need to?Could you leave me a contact number in case we need to talk to you?

Can you please clarify me some details:

-Are we sure that DS is going to write this email for the beneficiaries to claim the Lot Number?-What insurances we could have if the DS give the letter but then refuse to give the Lot Number to the beneficiaries? Would this be possibile? I know that i'm being negative here, but I just want to have a

solution ready for every possible scenario.

My biggest concern is that people won't make it to actually live in these houses, for some reasons.This fear that I have is surely due to all things that happened in the past years, but i have a question for you:at this stage can you ensure me that all 23 families will have their houses and nobody from any other part will claim those back one day?

Then:"The construction works will end by 1st week of April and second week I have to come back with the crew" are you saying that houses will be ready for the second week of April and people will then be able to occupy and live inside them? Can we keep the second week of April as a deadline?

Lastly, i ask you to take some more pictures on a regular basis ad to send them on to me, especially when the construction will be over, as we all want to see the outcome.

It'd be better if you could keep in touch constantly with me and/or Jimmy in these last days, as it's very important for us to know everything that is going on and all the relevant facts and news.Do you think you can update us once every 3 days? As we are approaching an end, we want to be constantly in the loop.

Thank you Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 18 marzo 2009 11.16A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Yes I am alive until god gives me time.The best way to contact me is thro mail, or send an sms to Vinoth, I will keep him informed so that I get the message at least the next day. I am travelling a lot and keeping you updated every three days may be not possible.. But dont worry as I am not leaving the work un attended or leaving the project until we have acheived what we want. - PEOPLE ARE SECURED WITH THE NEW HOME OF THEIR OWN. Your concern is my concern. We have to be sure 100% that people have the legal ownership to claim the house is theirs. This is what I was emphasizing repeatedly and was working from all possible lines.I knew it is difficult but for me and my team it is a challenge and what we are capable of acheiving. Today I have received the confirmation that our efforts are recognised and that we receive all the Institutional support to hand over these houses - from the Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka I am translating the letter - below Letter Dated March 16th 2009, faxed to me on 16th, Letter Reference ED/09

" Surrendra Wijeratne 16/01, De Fonseka Place, Bambalapitiya ref :Housing Project Reference is made to your letter to His Excellency the President regarding the above captioned. His Excellency the President is extremely busy and have advised the undersigned to render the assistance you have requested for. Therefore please send in a summarized report on the points you wish to draw the attention and consideration of His Excellency. I will be able to provide you the requested Institutional support. Signed Medha Bemulla I.H.K.Mahanama Additional Secretary to the President for , Secretary to he President." With reference to above letter, I have informed H.E.The Presidents Secretariat, the details of project background , starting from your fathers endowerment in 2005, your intervention in 2008, how we had connected to Divisional Secretary, the information excahnge with the land commissioner, my meetings with Government Agent of the Ampara District, the progress and that we wish to Hand over these houses for the April New Year 2009 with a document legally/ constitutionally accepted by any authority who wish to engage with the innocent, underpriviledged beneficiary families. In addition I have detailed that you & the family have donated 8.5 million rupees to me to re activate and complete this project. I also have followed this with Additional Secretary, Medha Bemulla today through a telephone conversation and she advised me that the necessary steps are taken and for me to call them on Monday 23rd of March 2009.They have already informed the Divisional Secretary and the GA Office to start the works on this handing over. - Now I am sure that the project receive the appropriate attention to see that your fathers, yours and the family, Jimmy's and my teams efforts are successful. I caanot wait untl things happen. I will see that this becomes a reality that the time passed is rewarded. I may travel again on Friday or Saturday, to the site and on my return will provide you the updates. Now the DS may find fault with me but I am helpless as We must see the end.And I generally work from both ends and have been very transparent in all my work not only in this project but throughout my 18 years career cause both ends get the same information and no one should escape from been accountable.

I have managed to tie the knots correctly for a good purpose and I am sure that this will not be only a dream. Taking photos, I will send you some with my next mail, only diffenece you will see is that all houses are painted and most of the garden areas are cleaned by the beneficiaries since internal works are on. Any way I will send you some with my next mail. God Bless you Sure.

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 01 aprile 2009 03.40A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Gio, Hope you are in good health and happy. Thought I send you a small update on the present activities. The Electrical Wiring is work for the houses are ongoing. The transport permission for Timber works will be collected from the respective authorities and I have to follow up and obtain it from them. We will be handing over houses one by one as an when they are finished to the assigned beneficiaries without waiting for a ceromony. Re the Land Lot numbers - I have not received any documentation upto now but that does not mean the beneficiaries cannot occupy. I will send you the letter that we are handing over to the beneficiaries to claim ownership which will be certified by DS and respective authorities to confirmm that they are not asked to evacuate. I will send you some pictures next week. Take care Surrendra.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 02 aprile 2009 04.18

A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>

Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Hi Sure,

I heard that you got 1 hammered finger.I'm sorry to hear that, I hope that everything is fine.

How can we be updated on the Land number issue?When is the DS/land commissioner going to produce them? We need at least a range of dates to have an idea, can you find that out?

Let me know something asap please.

Thanks

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne

a me

mostra dettagli 18 apr


> italiano

Ulteriori informazioniDear Gio, Hope you received my mail. You must be busy with work. If you plan to send money please do not use the same account number that we had given before. You will have to send that to Vinoth or I will give you a different Account Number. Vinoth will send you the photos. I am attaching the copy of certificate that we are issuing to the beneficiaries to confirm approval for occupation and ownership. This will be countersigned by DS and the Eastern Province Member Mr. Selvarasa - with their Official Rubber Stamps. So these final works for the handing over will be arranged in consultation with the beneficiaries, DS and the relevant authorities and we will keep you updated. Our next two steps are to arrange written requests for electricity and water connection under individual beneficiary names and after the draft is agreed upon by DS we will be doing the letters and handing over to the respective authorities. Look forwad to hear from you. Regards

Surrendra

Hi Sure,

sorry but i was out of office until yesterday ad I couldn't read the email.

I received the pics and i'm happy to see that houses are almost completed.

I also looked at the handing over letter, and I have 2 comments:

1) Is it possible to have the DS (or another authority) signing a similar letter with which the government/DS statues that Federico Stella is the benefactor who made available all the money needed to build them? And that these houses have been built with the sole and only purpose of giving a new house to 23 - originally 30 - families affected by the Tsunami disaster and no future alienation or alteration of these houses will be ever made possible for any private or the government?

2) My father's name is Federico, not Federicio:) so the last "i" is not really in its name;

Let me know details of Vinoth's account number so that I can send you 380.000 Rupees.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Take care,

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 16 aprile 2009 03.14A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Hope you are in good health and happy. We returned to Colombo on 13th April and are returning to site on 21st. Until then two beneficiary families are at site since they are handed over the houses. All beneficiaries who came to meet us at the site was given advise that they can stay and live at their house if they wish until the doors and windows are fixed. We arrived at this decission after consulting DS as well and for several reasons. 1. The houses are really nice and are greater than what has been offered to tsunami victims of the area and DS and the Political parties have been approached by several people requesting a house from this project. DS have already confirmed that the beneficiaries are selected and finalised and that the houses have been already handed over to thefamilies to live in. 2. The names of these families have been sent to the Land commissioner along with the requisition for re surveying the land to do the lot nos per house and these names cannot be changed. 3. Allowing the owners of the house to occupy benefits the security.

4. DS and we agreed that the keys of the houses and the permission to occupy will be given to the families and we are not waiting until all houses are fixed with doors & windows but will hand over as an when they are completed. So starting from 21st April we will hand over keys of the houses and bring in people - if possible providing transport from our lorry if they wish to pump fuel to ensure that the beneficiaries are in their new home. Once all have occupied the houses and they start new lives here DS will hold a small handing over ceromony with the contribution from the beneficiaries , Invite the other authority leaders and hand over the certificate to beneficiaries which will be the official permit for them the live and own the house until land commissioner prepare deeds for individual names. 5. At the moment all beneficiaries visit the site and some on a daily basis, cleaning their gardens and areas around the house. We have requested their contribution for toilet tank excavation and some have completed the excavation. more than 50% of people are ready with material to complete their fence but unable to complete since land marks are given. 6. On 11th of April DS visited the site and confirmed that he will expidiate the survey matter or the people to cover their gardens. 7. Some photos with this information will reach you in due course, they are in vinoths camera and I will send it ASAP. 8. I have attached some photos here for your reference. 9. The balance work cost. As discussed with you we require 380,000.00 because we are obtaining beneficiary support for labour works. There has been no issue about obtaining beneficiary contribution and even the DS agreed that a participatory development approach is always better that a 100% donation. On the other hand this approach enhances beneficiary families relationship and their energy to confirm ownerships. 10. We are leaving our motor and the water tanks for the benefit of the people because the water board have not visited the site to even check the water quality. However beneficiary families are fully aware that the tube well we use contain very good quality water and in sufficient quantities to satisfy their dailiy needs.We have already appointed one person in charge for the motor and the pump. Only thing is the structure we use is a temporary stand made from our scaffolding sections which they will need to upgrade in near future. 11. At present the electricity connection is under my name and the site for which we have advanced approx 50,000.00. The actual cost of electricity we have utilised is about 10% from this deposit.I am not recovering this balance and will be transfering that to the name of the person who will be in charge of the water pump so that this benefits in two ways. One that the beneficiaries are sure that there is continuous water supply and we obtain a permenant address with a name of one family from the site registered in one other local authority. 12. We are preparing letters on behalf of the beneficiaries since they do not have the capacity, to make individual requests under their names for the electricity connection and water connection. Once the letters are signed by them the DS will countersign with his official rubber stamp and recomend the supply and forward them to the Area Engineer of the Electricity Board and Water Board.Then the beneficiaries will receive an individual receipt for the payments they make and the connections under their names which will solve the ownership issues if there are any.. When the Electricity Bill and the Water bill is under your name it is confirmed that the said named wons the property.

So Gio this is the plan to have the houses handed over and confirm the families do not face any obstacle in residing there and you could mail your views or concerns for which I will respond soon. Until then Cheers. Sure.


Dear Gio, Thanks for your mail, Vinoth and Myself are together now answering your message. The Changes required - It is certainaly without any doubt possible to include that Mr.Federico Stella is the benefactor who made available all the funds to build these houses. We will discuss with DS during our next visit - This week end - regarding the second point. However our letter is only a draft for comments from you and the DS.DS Agreed to sign on with his logo / rubber stamp to ensure validity, and the responsible authority is DS.. We understand your point that these beneficiaries should never be faced with uncertainity or difficulty in prooving their ownership and and they shall live in their new homes comfortably & securely - both physically and metally. Our discussion with DS is that we prepare this document on a valued paper for a certificate, on which the DS will sign with his Official Rubber Stamp. With your comment we will talk to DS and request DS Office to issue a letter under the Government Letterhead which carry more weight. This could be possible but let me confirm to you. We need to explain the second point. A clause to the effect that confirms " non Alienation " is possible in no uncertain terms. Alteration is something we may not be able to control in future as the beneficiaries may develop them further perhaps to two storied struictures you never know.The inclusion of No Private influence/ Private Party decissions is also possible. When it comes to the Government, the government always have the authority to change their decissions.This could be due to development decissions such as new roads, Airports, Hospitals, Resoviours , High Security Zones etc but when we have a letter given to the families they are secured in following terms. When this shelter project is authorised as it is now, if the government needs to build the airport, all these families are confirmed to receive a new home with all facilities available in this home and the environment. But if they do not have the letter signed by the respective authority - Divisional Secretary they will be treated as unauthorised occupants and dwellings and they will receive nothing to as compensation. The best example is the Victoria Project - when the villagers were subjected to be destroyed by the developments all of them who were living in authorised homes received new land and houses in another similar location. In heart of Colombo near the Ministry of Defence the houses were removed by the government due to security reasons and since these families were in unauthorized dwellings - they received nothing and even the law could not do anything about it though the people lived in there

for nearly 20 + years. That is why We have got the respective authority involved with the very first step - Your visit in last August and now the Head of the Authority have agreed to sign.So do not worry about non inclusion of the government - clause but we have ensured that the families are secured. We will talk to DS and After that we will include the points and revise the certificate contents and send it for your approval. Further I have send you a previous mail stating that We have send the information of this programme to H.E.The Presidents Office of the Sri Lankan Government and we are following up to obtain some documents from Presidents Secretariat. This gives additional weight to the program. We will keep you updated. It is very kind of you to send us this money and We do not have words to convey our gratitude. On behalf of the Team Vinoth & I sincerely thank you for this as both of us are mainly responsible in driving this project forward and to keep the teams' spirits high. Thank you once again. Vionths Account Detail -NAME - VINOTH LAL DHARMECATEGORY - SAVINGS ACCOUNTACCOUNT NUMBER - xxxxxxxxx You could SMS Vionth once done. Our Western Province Election is on April 25th and few of the members will be at site before but Vinoth and I have to utilise the vote and travel may be on April 25th evening. Will send you another update soon after We discuss with DS. Wish you good health and happiness. Vinoth / Sure

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 21 aprile 2009 13.42A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

I totally see your point, and I do know that any Government might have one day the need to move someone's house due to higher and more important reasons.The point is that on the other side i just want to be sure that nobody else will claim those houses in the future. Then, if the Government will decide to build an airport there, we can do nothing about it..:)

I'm thinking that it might be a good thing to talk with the attorney that we visited in Colombo this summer, so to have his advice as an expert in sri lankan law and also maybe to have him help us writing the letter for the DS.

Is there a phone number where i can call you in these days if I need to?

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 22 aprile 2009 04.19

A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Dear Gio,

Your point is taken and is addressed from the day we assigned the houses and the background was set for that since we met DS during your visit and the subsequent discussions held at the Ampara Government Agents Office with the deputy Land Commissioner.

It is very clear that once the houses are assigned and the Land Survey is done and Land Registration is done the beneficiary receive the said documents,No one can claim the houses. Do not worry about it.

It is the Law of this country and all the resettlements and Developments the Certificates issued and the letters given is the first document one need to claim and secure their property - Land / House. Secondarily the beneficiaries add weight to the first issued letter and their rights by obtaining the Electricity Connections, Water Connections, The Voting cards / election cards, etc under their name and the address of their new houses so that all these receipts and documents remain proof for ownership.

If Jimmy is around you could ask him about the resettlements that has been done in this country since 1948 and specially in 1956 - Ask him about the Developments done under the accellerated Mahaweli Program - All settlements in Anuradhapura, Plonnaruwa, Badulla, Mahiyangana etc - the Farmers are resettled in this process. So once again do not worry no one else can claim the owneship other than the person we had already assigned the house.

The process in summary -

1. Beneficiary names finalised

2. the names and details are confirmed and cetified by DS Office

3.The Beneficiary accepeted the house with his / her signature

4. The above details included in a schedule by DS Office and forward to Government Agents Office

5 The schedule is also send to Land Commissioner

6.DS Send the Requisition to Re survey the Land

7 Survey Dept under Land Commissioner do the survey and number the lots and extent and send details to the Land Registry to prepare documents under beneficiary names.

8 The process is followed up by DS office as they need to arrange other facilities on the said documents and the people will keep on going behind DS

9. Once registration nos are given DS issue the documents to beneficiaries.

On the Other Hand following secondary documents will be processed.

1. Request made by Beneficiaries to Electricity Board..

2. Request to Water Board.

3.Our letter to Mininstry of Nations Building/ GA Office / Land Commissioner.

4. Our Letter to Security Councils - Re new Homes and families

So far - Items 1 to 6 from the above actions are done and from the second lot we are processing the letters on behalf of beneficiary with their names, certification made by DS and we are taking them to the respective authorities since these poor families do not have the capacity to do so.

However he following conditions were included in the letter we handed over with Divisional Secretaries Signature when the houses were assigned to the selected beneficiaries on February 3rd 2009, to control the process and revert the given house only by DS Office.

The included points were -

In the event of my request is accepted and I am selected as a beneficiary of this program I agree to the following terms.

1. I willingly accept the house provided to me.2. I will continue to occupy this house and will not vacate this house given to me.3. I will not cheat and request another house from another program from the authorities / other

organization.

4. I will not re sell or rent out this house to any other party.5. I will maintain this house and take good care without damaging it6. I will not engage in any unlawful activity or in appropriate behavior that discomfort the other families

who occupy the houses in this village.7. If circumstances beyond my control erupt I shall inform The Divisional secretary and the respective

authorities – (a) either to obtain permission to vacate the house for a period (b) Or return the house back to authorities in complete condition to be donated to another homeless family

8. I am clearly aware and I agree that if I have violated or not respected one or more of above terms the authority – Divisional Secretary has the right and my consent to revert the donated house from my possession.

9. I place on record my signature / thumb print to confirm that I have received a clear explanation on what this letter contains and I am in possession with a copy of this letter.

I wonder if I had mailed you the agreement we had with the beneficiaries - if not please send I will send a copy.

So this is a long letter no matter, I think I have explained few things, and I will also obtain further advise from , as you said the attorney that we used or some people whom I know and who are in the Real Estate Business. Contacting me, Gio please send sms / talk to Vino we are in Colombo almost hanging around together for few other works. We should be together. Regards Sure

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 27 aprile 2009 13.36A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

Vinoth will get the money soon, I need to get them in Italy then I'll send it.

I have to ask you 4 quick things:

1) Would it be possible for you to have the DS sign a letter prepared by the attorney we visited this last summer?I'm about to call him to discuss with huim about these recent matters regarding the house assignment.

2) Is there any risk that our project will come again to a forced stiop because of the war against the tamils? We receive bad news about the ewar, and i don't know how's the situation like there.

3) Are we finished with the project now?You said end of April ,and we're there. Is there anything missing or that needs to be completed?

4) I will come for sure in August, and I might take my mother down to the site as well. Do you think it

could be possible to arrange a more confortable trip to thirukkovil for her? I was thinking about an elicopter for example..could it be possible?I'm already looking into this with jimmy but i wanted to hear from you as well.

Let me know, i'll bwe waiting for your answer.

Take care

Gio


Dear Gio, Thanks for your message, Vinoth informed me, its good that we receive this week as we are arranging the transport permits for timber works. I have given my comments below in bold Italic..

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>To: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 6:06:04 PMSubject: Re: Thirukkovil Houses

Hi Sure,

Vinoth will get the money soon, I need to get them in Italy then I'll send it.

I have to ask you 4 quick things:

1) Would it be possible for you to have the DS sign a letter prepared by the attorney we visited this last summer?I'm about to call him to discuss with huim about these recent matters regarding the house assignment. To my knowledge this will not be possible , since he is the statutory Authority and the responsibility of coordinating resettlements lies with the respective authorities in which he is directly accountable and the subjected assistance we require is not a private transaction we cannot hold him with a document signed by an attorney and it is not ethical. What we need is the Office he holds to take responsibility - when he sign and endorse with the rubber stamp that document becomes legitimate. That is the constituted law in the country and his office is the competent authority rendering the public services. 2) Is there any risk that our project will come again to a forced stiop because of the war against the tamils? We receive bad news about the ewar, and i don't know how's the situation

like there. No, the project will not be forced to stop. I confirm this for several reasons. The massive development of main infrastructure , such as water , fully carpeted roads, electricity and the other common buildings coming up with the governments' direct engagement with World Bank, ADB is one and the area was totally cleared from LTTE in 2006 and the political and public authorities under the Government have been reactivated.The ongoing rescue operations are in the North which is over 400km from where our project is on. Further what you may see or here in the international media perhaps influenced by UN and or other International Bodies will not be true always and specially with regard to the Sri Lanka's situation.In the first place there is no and never was a war against Tamils in this country. The short sighted foolish or idiotic politicians , cultivated and harvested their private and personnel profits out of the created conflict irrespective of an ethnic group. The Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim Politicians did this for decades since 1948.What the international groups did was teaming up with these corupted local people exagerated the situation for their were benefit. These INGO's always had a hidden agenda behind their mandate which was nicely covered up with the words " ethnic conflict" and "humanitarian assistance" by which they earned the maximum profits while covering the real situation of this country and turning a blind eye to the worlds most rutheless terrorist activities who propogated themselves as freedom fighters. For the Last 30 years or more all INGO's, UN agencies carried our their " humanitarian Assistance " projects in the North and east of this country thinking that they will never get caught and telling the world that their work has been very "transparent", and obtained donations / gifts from the general public. Some countries take a part of the hard earned tax money from their citizens for development assistance / humanitarian support of countries like ours. The expats who come into Sri Lanka as the executors of these " humanitarian assistance projects" enjoy the highest luxuries available in this country with the hard earned tax money of people like you.. Further what they have been doing is releasing media reports, information that has taken the world for a ride. According to most donor mandates and specially the UN there is a strong clause as NON TERRORIST FINANCING ACT" - but what have they done in this country - when you go to the area No houses are provided to innocent people or other facilities such as water ,toilets schools but the war bunkers of Terrorists, their amunition factories, buildings of LTTE Leaders , and training innocent school children as soldiers while prabakarans children get education

in luxury. The amount of money granted by the UN and other INGO's to develop the area and provide "humanitarian assistance" are put into good use. the cement, steel, generators, fuel, food , childrens education needs, medicine etc etc were provided but what has happened. The UN officials, other INGO officials were completing project by project, did their evaluation reports, stating their projects are successful, transparent according to all norms set under their mandates. Havent they seen what was going on - child soldiers, malnutrition, the weapons, armed vehicles, inequity, ?? I am sorry to say that the international community had been taken for a ride - speacially in the case of Sri Lanka. So do not get carried away by what you and hear. I stated all these because - I worked for the GTZ - German Technical Cooperation and the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives and because their work is not transparent and when I had questions I was not allowed to stay - my contracts were not extended. I am very sorry for them and once I stated that the worlds most corrupted organisations are the UN and USAID. So Gio this would have taken much of your time but do not worry our project will not be forced to stop because we are transparent. 3) Are we finished with the project now?You said end of April ,and we're there. Is there anything missing or that needs to be completed? We are almost finished Gio, Once Vinoth receive the money our last lot of Doors and Windows which are missing at site will go to the site and we fix them and hand over the keys to families with the DS's Signature, and see that people occupy. I did not have enough money in my hand to send Vinoth and Lalla this week.that is why I asked Vinoth to send you a message yesterday.So another ten days to fix the doors & Windows once we get into site.Then we will follow up with DS and other authorities until the Lot numbered documents are received by the people - It is my responsibility which I will follow up while in colombo and periodical visits to the Area.

4) I will come for sure in August, and I might take my mother down to the site as well. Do you think it could be possible to arrange a more confortable trip to thirukkovil for her? I was thinking about an elicopter for example..could it be possible?I'm already looking into this with jimmy but i wanted to hear from you as well.

It is very pleasing to hear this.Gio the Trip to Thirukkovil is not difficult as it was. All roads are fully carpeted. The number of Checkpoints have been reduced. The drive is 200% comfortable than when we travelled in Last August. Only thing is its about 10+ hours. Your Idea of taking a chopper / helicopter , yes possible, let me check with some private domestic airlines, or travel agents. We need to take the approval from Defence Authorities , sometimes the Travel Agents will do it and We will have to send in some details to justify the Air travel which I can do and also find the cost. I will come back to you with information , give me a weeks time.

Let me know, i'll bwe waiting for your answer.

Take care

GioRegardsSurrendra[Testo tra virgolette nascosto]

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 28 aprile 2009 22.06A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>Ccn: Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>, Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

I'm not saying that we should bypass the DS or that we should tell him what to do, as I perfectly understand that this is not fair and not even possible.I know that he represent the authority there and that he's the one in charge over there and that we need to stick to his word.BUT: in one of your previous email you sent me the letter that he should sign, to handle over houses to beneficiaries. What I'm suggesting is that we have that very letter checked from a lawyer to see if we can add anything to give more power to our position and to secure beneficiaries even more about the future possession of their houses.I'm not saying that the DS has to do what we say, as that's not possible. I was just wondering if it was possible to have that letter checked from a lawyer/law person to be 150% sure that we are giving the beneficiaries the best letter we could ever produce.

I hope you understand my point and my intentions.

Let me know if this is something that we can do or if the letter will be produced by the DS himself and we won't have any chance to change it.

Thanks and let me know

Gio

2009/4/28 Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>[Testo tra virgolette nascosto][Testo tra virgolette nascosto]

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 29 aprile 2009 02.40

A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Thanks for explaining this.Your point is very clear. I will go to the attorney we both met or some other lawyer who is freequently engaged with property matters and give the copy of - the letter of handing over to him and revise, add any other clauses to add power and get it back to the DS. I will send you a copy of that to you soon. ThanksSure..

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 05 maggio 2009 17.36

A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected]: Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>, Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure, i 've sent the money so u will receive them soon.I have to tell you that I'm very disappointed and upset also,as I didn't hear anything fom u in these last days.You promised me that you would have finish everything by end of april,it's may 5th and u still have to do 15 floors,windows and other stuff.this is not serious.Your first deadline was november,can you relize this?can you realize that we are in may now?I've sent you other money because I thought that ths way it could be easier for you to finish everything by the end of april-so only "5" full months after the first deadline.but the fact of me sending money once again was soething extra.you never mentioned that you could't keep working without these money.I thought it was to help you pay vinoth,and so I helped you. You never showed me a receipt to explain your expenses,and I never asked.but I'm not an idiot,sure.I didn't ask only because I wanted you to fee my trust in you,but now we are going too far.We've put an incredible amount of money and we gave you almost 40.000 € this year,and you can't even pick up the phone to call me and tell me why you are late,again. This is not respectful,it's too much.you signed a contract with me,sure.

You are the manager of this project and you are acting like you don't even care.If you forgot about it, we're doing this for sri lankan people, and I'm doing it at my expenses.I could have used those money for myself,for example,to go travelling or to buy myself a car.I won't see those money again in mylife,and nobody else would pay me anything back. We could have spent those money in a million different way,but we gave them to you-paying you and your team- to finish these thing.as you said,there are so many things to do in sri lanka.I don't want to think that we are doing the wrong thing or that we can't see it finished.

I want you to take up your responsabilities and call me asap to explain me why you are late this

time,andwhy you are not working in these last days.I pretend an explanation.

I don't call you only because I don't know where to call you anymore.give me a number and I'll call you.

You were the one who told me you could finish everytihng by november.you are the one who's not telling me why you still haven't finished in may.

It's not a game, and I want to know what happened to our money.I care about this thing like nobody else, and I will not give up fo any reason.

I want to hear from your voice asap, I want you to pick up that phone and promise that you will finish everything by the end of this month,no matter what.

I gave you time,money and trust. You have to finish this thing,and you have to promise that you will do it by the end of the month. This time for real.

I'm waiting to hear from you.

Gio

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 09 maggio 2009 03.29

A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Dear Gio, Thanks for the money, Vinoth informed me. I need to explain few things and last three days was not around to check mail or contact.It is national holidays and Monday we are meeting to make all arrangements for the final round of works at site. I really care for the project to complete it ASAP and do not want anyone whom I have associated or entrusted me a responsibility losing faith in me or my Team.That is why I am holding on, by absorbing everything coming from this project - whether it is blame or cost and time that cannot be recovered and risk by leaving at site all my valuable machinery and equipment. MONEY AND WORK: - Since my last converstions with you from colombo and the subsequent visit to the site what I explained to you would not have been clear, When we spoke I did mention that my real problem at that point was short of some cash to complete the works, and also I mentioned even Vino and them were not paid. Secondly I told that once I go to the site and check the contribution we could get from the house owners I will inform you the amount we will require which we did.So I came back and informed you the amount and was planning to send the team again to complete the 15 floors and fix the doors and windows. 15 floors are work of 15 days and fixing of doors and windows are done simultaneously because we have already finished the doors production and even the windows are fixed with glasses and completed. It is only a matter of fixing them with hinges and screws at the site.Actually these Doors and windows production were completed in October Last year. When Jimmy was here He saw them.We did not shift them to the site until the masonry works are completed.

I did not tell you and your family about the shortfall of funds until we talked to each other because We specially did not like to keep on troubling you for money as we know that you had send in a large amount already.And were visiting several organisations to support the balance few things. Our first deadline was november - thats three months I accept that It is my mistake for not properly analysing the total scenario and the background of the project. It was based on what I did 5 years ago - constructing 100 days in 60 days in Year 2003. Everything started with the first issue of water which really slowed the total project and then the money available gradully reducing for maintenance expenses while the material costs for balance few materials also increase.From Last November untill today five months time - I also cannot recover the time. I am sure that you too understand that time is a cost.After bringing the site into the present stage from where it was and still waiting to complete and hand over and my inability to release them only put me in difficulty on several sides. I too need to finsih this completely because this project will finally take time which add on to expense and time that I too cannot recover.So with all what I have cultivated around this project - The face value of my Team members and myself in front of the major local authorities, Police and the Security forces and the confidence that you have put on jimmy to release money to me , I cannot and will not run away to act as an idiot to loose these invaluable strengths I have gained. The delay is purely because I did not want to ask more money from you giving you the situation while trying to approach other institutions- these may come but with all the admin systems in place and bureacracy it takes time. The intention was not to cheat you by not telling but to complete it somehow and to hand over. So this time the team will arrive at site next week after I arrange them with the permits to transport timber doors and windows remain there and complete them, hand over and come back to colombo with all the machinery pumps and other equipment I have kept at site. You will also receive a complete expense report of this project with the final report. Take care , God bless you with good health and happiness. Sure.


A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected]: Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>, Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

I red your email and i see your explanations. Still though, you didn't call me.

I ask you to do it as I have the urgency to discuss with you these issues more in depth.

My number is 00353877792089, you can find me there or you can give me your number and i will call you.

I also need to know if I or Jimmy have to or can do something to speed up the process to obtain permits to transfer timbers, doors and windows. Let us know what you need to finish the job as you have to commit to the deadline of MAY 31st as the LAST AVAILABLE DAY TO COMPLETE WORKS.

I'm sure you'll manage to do it within May 31st and you'll manage to complete this project,as none of us -as you said - do not want the positive and good aspects of it to be ruined, nor wish for the other benefits that you mentioned for you, your team and anybody else involved to be affected in anyway.

Finally, could you prepare a detail of all the expenses you payed since you received the money? This way we can discuss about everything more in depth.

I'm looking forward to hear from your live voice ASAP :)

Take care

Gio


A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>, [email protected], jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

I've been trying to call you in these past days and today also, but with no luck. I called you at the agreed time, but i always spoke to some of your family members without finding you.Why didn't you call me back? Or why didn't you just call me to give me updates?This thing that I - being the person who gave you a lot of money and trust to finish this project, if you want to see it this way - have no way to find you or talk to you when I need to is pretty peculiar, Surendra...

The reason why i was trying to call you is simple: I want updates. How's the construction going? Are you going to finish within the deadline? If not, why? When will you hand over the houses?It's been a while since your last email, and i need to have a full update on how things are going.

How many windows still have to be fixed? How many floors? Do all houses have been wired?How many are left?

What else is still to be finished before we can let people in?

And, most of all, did we manage to finally obtain the lot numbers from the DS in order to let people have the right to live in those houses?

I couldn't find you in these last days and this made me worried and nervous, as it's not a good sign when the manager in charge doesn't answer or refuses to give updates...but I'm sure this is not the case.

We are almost there Sure, we are really close...let's finish this.

Let me know something ASAP,

ciao for now.

Gio

vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]> 01 luglio 2009 07.20


STATEMENT FINAL COST - ACTUAL EXPENSE REPORT

PROJECT STELLA HOMES THIRUKKOVILPERIOD SEPTEMBER 2008 - JUNE 2009

A PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACTUAL COST

1Site Coordinator I 180000Vinoth Lal Dharme2site coordinator 2 180000S.Jemettakan3field / delivery coordinator 155000V.Lalith Kumar4Admin Assistant 1 150000Chamari Abeysinghe

5EPF/ ETF Contributions 23% for Labour 152950To be deposited to Central Bank

20% for provident fund & 3% for trust fund

Sub Total 817950 B COMMUNICATION COSTS

1Main Line Telephone 30000Communication from Colombo 10 months

2Mobiles at Site 40000Communication from Site 10 months Sub Total 70000 C TRANSPORTATION

1Vehicle Hire 1300000For Material and Crew , Lorry Fire for 10 months

2Flat Bed Long Vehicle 40 Tons 60000Asbestos Transport3Diesel / Fuel - vehicle / pumps / genset 210327

Sub Total 1570327

D MATERIAL / EQUIPMENT EXPENSE

1Wood Working Machinery 242000 2Genset For Power 75075 3Engine Water Pump 36075 4Electric Water Pump 8586 5Kithchen Equipment 6800 6Tarpolin Tents 30000 7Water Tanks 18000 8Water Barrels 2200 9Scaffolding Sets 8 nos 64000

10Timber Planks 32000 11Labour Safety Kits 27000 12Gloves 5600 13Shoes For Labour 10130 14Masonry Equipment 10135 15Wheel Barrows & Motar Plates 18000 16Excavation of Water Well 15000 17Temporary Power connection 42031 18Cement -Concrete/ plaster/floor/ finishing 536375 19Sand 148000 20Concrete Metal 33750 21Steel & Toilet Equipment 125125 22Roofing Sheets 849095 23Timber for Roof 238698 24Timber for Doors/ Windows 881494 25Glasses for Windows 46800 26Paint - External & Internal 236332 27Electrical Wire & Fittings 345000 28Ridge Tiles 21375 29From Thanujey Stores 216980 30Water Bouser Payments 3400 31Accesoories, blades , consumables 22356.5 32Locally purchased material - hardware/tools 124915

Sub Total 4472327.5

E LABOUR FOR PRODUCTION / SITE WORKS Skilled Labour fees and daily expenses

paid at site for Masonry, Roofing, Paint, Concrete, Wiring, Finishing doors windows etc etc, carpentry forwindow frames and 230 door window sashes including glasses

11513.5 Labour Days at site @ 850 12864752Labour for Carpentry at workshop 492000

Sub Total 1778475

F FOOD / WELFARE EXPENSE AT SITE

1For total work force at site 940496includes , food,cleaning material, first aid, gas, etc etc

during 10 months Sub total 940496

TOTAL COST 9649575.5

the Listed cost Items / descriptions / explanations

Labour expensesWe have calculated only the labour we utilised and the cost is kept at the minimum levels.The local labour rate in Thirukkovil is 1500.00 per day but we paid only 850 .The cost of electricians for wiring, Carpentry for Roof work, Painters are not calculated at the generalConstruction rates as we only wanted to keep the cost at the lowest levels. They are calculated at daily Labourand included in no of labour days.The production cost for 414 units comprising of 184 Door and window frames and 230 door and window sashesare not calculated for general carpenters rate. We have considered only the actual labour days for which a unit labour cost is only 1188.40 - (1188.40 x 414 = 491997.60)

WaterCost of water for consruction , we purchased water bousers at 3400 per unit and approx 3 units required to carryout construction and for human consumption at site. This was extremely expensive and we opted for the Water pump - engine driven using fuel which continuedand subsequently obtained the electricity service and used both options to meet construction requirementsand drinking / washing and daily human consumption which is cost effective that purchasing water.These costs are included - as water pupm costs, fuel costs, electricity costs which is difficult to be detailedin isolation as the purchase of fuel was made in common / bulk.

Other We have not accounted for the time and cost incurred for the total coordination activity of this proect whichIncludes the following travel of team members to Divisional Secretary , District Secretariat Ampara, Electricity Board, Water Board, Survey Department, Security Councils, Local Ministries Time of Project Leader and monthly cost of Team LeaderThe Labour days related to these coordination activities are not included in the labour total of above summary

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 01 luglio 2009 08.40A: vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>Cc: [email protected], Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>

Hi guys,

this is good and I will look into it now.

But it's only a part of what I asked, So I still need to receive other stuff in the form of a document that should be as following:

Section 1:

Number of houses completedNumber of houses occupiedNumber of houses still to be occupied

Section 2:

Brief summary of things done up to now on the construction side and on the administrative side

Section 3:

Description of things that still need to be done, completed or obtained, such as lot numbers

Section 4:

An expense report with a detail-level description of all relevant expenses made in this 10 months

Section 5:

Complete names and email/home addresses of all authorities involved in the project ( DS, land commissioner etc.)

Section 6:

Pictures of the occupied houses, plus the final list of all beneficiaries and a signed copy of the letters given to the beneficiaries

Section 7:

Other problems or observations that you may advise, and any additional comment you wish to make.

Up to now you only gave me section number 4, I need to receive all other 6.

I need to receive this ASAP.

Can you please let me know something?

Thank you,once again:)

Gio

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 30 giugno 2009 11.49A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>Ccn: Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Hi Sure,

I've been trying to contact you but I cannot find you...it's never easy to get in contact with you..:)

So, I'm waiting to receive a report from you, stating the state of works and things done up to now. I

need to receive this as I need to send it and show it to all relevant stakeholders, such as (but not only): other benefactors that participated in the first donation, City of Milan's Major (who participated in the first donation), italian ambassador in Sri Lanka, Sri lankan authorities, my family and Ale, for the job he and his newspaper have done.

I'm also thinking about having an article written on Sri Lankan newspapers about it, and I will also publish a website once I will have all the following documentation.

I want to give you and everybody else the right visibility and credit for the great job done so far, but I need to receive everything I'm asking you in order to do it.

So this report should be in 7 sections, and here's a detail of how it should look like:

Section 1:

Number of houses completedNumber of houses occupiedNumber of houses still to be occupied

Section 2:

Brief summary of things done up to now on the construction side and on the administrative side

Section 3:

Description of things that still need to be done, completed or obtained, such as lot numbers

Section 4:

An expense report with a detail-level description of all relevant expenses made in this 10 months

Section 5:

Complete names and email/home addresses of all authorities involved in the project ( DS, land commissioner etc.)

Section 6:

Pictures of the occupied houses, plus the final list of all beneficiaries and a signed copy of the letters given to the beneficiaries

Section 7:

Other problems or observations that you may advise, and any additional comment you wish to make.

I need to receive this ASAP.

Finally as you already know I will come down in Sri Lanka at the beginning of August with my mother, and we will be visiting the site. Jimmy will come with us too.

We could have a celebration party or something like that organized in Thirukkovil for the day we'll be there, do you think it'd be possible? What are the things we need to do in order to do this?

Also, with Jimmy we're trying to have a plate to put at site to celebrate my father's memory.

As I said, I can't stress out enough the fact that I need to receive this report so that I can be able to give the right credit and visibility to anyone involved in this project.

I'm looking forward to hear back from you very soon.

Take care for now,

and God bless.

Gio

-- This message may contain restricted or confidential information. If this communication has been received by mistake, please do not forward it to third party, delete all copies and the attachments, and confirm that this message has been sent to the wrong person. Thank you.

The above terms reflect a potential business arrangement, are provided solely as a basis for further discussion, and are not intended to be and do not constitute a legally binding obligation. No legally binding obligations will be created, implied, or inferred until an agreement in final form is executed in writing by all parties involved.

Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]> 01 luglio 2009 09.20A: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>

Hi Gio,

Yes, you would have not been able to find me as I was not around home and since I do no carry a mobile any more. It is not to avoid any contact. My task have not been completed yet and until I feel confident that it is done I will be communicating to you from time to time. Mostly in written form. Since we left the site on 21st of June I just gave a break to the team until we resume work from Today. I had also few other committments to vist my workshop in Colombo which was inactive for about three months and needed to find possibilities of re structuring and obtain some good business. In the mean time I have informed Divisional Secretary Thirukkovil regarding few action points and that I would re visit the site with prior notice for the follow up actions. You will receive all information relevant to each section after this vist and I request two weeks time for this. Prior to reading your mail I collecetd the available info and made a brief expense report which include some expenses as cumilative totals and a summary of action

points I want to follow up in consultation with DS and the Team. A detailed expense report which will include all valued inputs for the project will come to you after I sit down with the team and obtain all views and data. Pictures , Yes we got many pictures but as usual the size have been a problem. I am taking time to send you few taken at the last moments. We will make some arrangement to send all. I have to do a final report for the project anyway and I am in the process of doing this.. I have to send copies to DS, President Secretariat, Ministry of Nations Building and all other stake holders as We have taken them as stakeholders here. I do not see major problems other than general ones which have been regular in this country for those time will be the cure. Anyway we are trying to give some assistance to the families by enhancing their knowledge and by keeping them well informed so that they would be motivated and stand on their feet. As at today I have received information confirming that 15 families are physically living in their new homes. All houses are handed over but the other few - 8 families may have some difficulty or planed dates to occupy them With my visit I am able to find it out. Further we received info that the families at site have upgraded the drinking water well we did for them and they have sufficient water. I have attached few photos, may be you receive several mails and two documents related to action points and preliminary report.

ItemDescription of Activity Explanations, Present status and next steps, observations.

1 Assigned Houses and taking over by Beneficiary families and occupying

All 23 houses were assigned to the beneficiaries on Feb 32009 based on selection by GS Officers, Provincial Member and coordinated by Divisional Secretary.

Since then the families visited the site to clean up and participate in finishing activities

Some families wanted to build a separate toilet on their own and the material are handed over to them

The copies of following letters are with the beneficiaries for their benefit.

1. letters including the document signed on Feb 3rd 2009,

2. a copy of letters sent to the Survey Dept by DS office TK/DS/LR/22 with Requisition

TK/DS/124 for land survey,

3. a letter of handing over given to beneficiaries by the Programme coordinator which will be

counter signed by DS

4. Letters to Area Engineer National Water Supply & Drainage Board and Area Engineer

Electricity Board requesting main stream service connections to the village,

5. letter received from Presidential secretariat confirming institutional support.

The Special Task force camps at Sangamankanda, Sub Post at

Thamaraikulam – Near Nehrupuram and the Kanchanakuda Camp are

informed that the beneficiary families are occupying the houses and the

details of beneficiaries were provided.

There were 18 beneficiaries who collected the set of documents on 21st of

June 2009 and the other five are kept with the beneficiary of House No 2

and all beneficiaries are informed.

2 Land survey and lot numbers

The Land survey requisition is sent to Ampara Survey Department Office by the Divisional Secretary. The request is

prioritised by DS and all details pertaining to the land and beneficiary families are with survey department. The physical

survey is to be carried out soon which facilitate several other activities.

3 Water Facility for Beneficiaries A manually operated pump is fixed to the tube well for daily needs of beneficiary families.

The temporary service connection from Electricity board is disconnected and a water pump cannot be operated unless the

total village discuss and set up a common unit with connection from electricity board.

Though the Ministry of Nations Building requested the Engineer of National Water Supply & Drainage Board to visit the site

and prepare an estimate with a 20% community contribution to upgrade and arrange a rural water scheme using the

existing well the engineer Mr. Nakkawita has not been bothered to at least visit the location. The said letter is dated 26th

December 2008. The Program coordinator visited him in January with the ministers letter and he said that there is no water

in the area when, we enjoyed the clear drinking water from this well at site.

4 Electricity Facility

The request Letter to Area Engineer with recommendation from Divisional Secretary and the Supdt from Akkaraipattu was

sent to Area Engineer Ampara.

The main lines are approx 75 meters from the village and Govt / CEB shall provide lines to the village for individual families

to make independent requests through DS Office

5 Future developments other priority needs

A small community centre for this village will be of great importance to provide the state assistance and a space for

services from any other organisation. Such a space could have a pre school for the children, the monthly health clinics for

mothers, educative, social mobilisation work by other organisations and village committee meetings etc etc. The Project

Coordinator of ICRC Visited the site to observe the background and he stated that once the beneficiaries have occupied

they may consider such a space or for other needs such as livelihood assistance etc.

6 Formation of village committee

The beneficiaries were advised to form a village committee as a part of capacity building at village level. This is important

for the beneficiaries to maintain unity and arrive at collective decisions and make common requests to impose pressure to

obtain state assistance.

7 Visit of Mr Stella – simple celebration Dates to be confirmed approx two weeks prior o arrival.

Will talk to you soon.Wish you good health and happiness. Sure.

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>To: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:49:23 AM

Subject: Important and urgent: Key results and Next Steps Report[Testo tra virgolette nascosto]

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 01 luglio 2009 09.53A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

thank you for your email, this first part of documentation that you sent will be of great help.

Ok if you ask for 2 weeks time to complete the report, which I then expect to receive by Tuesday July 14th.

Can you also tell me how to contact you in the meanwhile if i need to speak to you?

I might need to as i might need your help to organize our next visit.

Let me know,

take care

Gio

From: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>To: [email protected]: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 3:35:49 AMSubject: Report

Dear Gio, Reference my previous mail I am attaching the details and information you requested. Vinoth informed that you are planning to arrive here and visit the Site by August 12th. It is a wednesday I double checked with DS and he is happy that you come and see the village. He said that it is not compulsory that he should be there. He do not want to avoid us due to any reason what he said was that he is happy to have supported this activity and even if he is not around he do not want to change our plans. The President Secretariat informed that they have advised the Survey Dept Ampara to finish the survey soon. When checked with Ampara they have already informed the sub post at Akkaraipattu to attend to the matter. I called Sub post and the officer was in the field. Will have some information by tommorow. Keep Vinoth Informed about your visit or the plans or if possible send mails. I am able to check it every day in the night from a communication close to my house. During day time I travel to my workshop.

Take care God bless you. Sure

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 16 luglio 2009 22.05A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>, Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>Ccn: Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

thank you for your summary.

I've red it carefully tonight I appreciate the level of detail you've put.

Of course I do have things to ask you/tell you:

You wrote that if the remaining 7 families will not occupy the houses by the 18th, which is tomorrow, you will hand over the house to some other families.

These sounds good to me; the question is now: what is the situation like with these families?Did they occupy the houses in the meanwhile? Are the houses still to be occupied?If so, do you already know who else could occupy them?

We need to move with anticipation, as it would be quite disappointing if 7 houses will be to be left empty.

Can you please let me know something asap on this matter? If tomorrow you are going to change 7 beneficiaries I want to be informed.

Regarding our visit, I already have bought tickets for me and my mother, Renata Schisano.We will arrive in Colombo the morning of the 9th,and I can confirm you that we plan to visit Thirukkovil on the 12th.

The idea is to stay st site from the morning to the evening, and then move. This program might be subject to my mother's conditions, as I wanna be sure that she'll be fine.

We do not want to do anything spectacular, just a small ceremony with the beneficiaries and the authorities. Ideally we'd like the DS (and any other relevant authority) to be there with us, as he had a key role in this project, and to make this ceremony more official.If he won't be able to attend, we will visit him. Anyway, I want to meet him, so please help me with this matter.

We might give a little simple speech, if my mother wants to prepare something, and then we might just stay there with the beneficiaries talking with them and listening to them. We could then have lunch all together there.

We do not want or intend to do anything big, or exaggerated. We just want to meet the families, check the houses and enjoy the great job that was done.

I still don't know whether we'll reach Thirukkovil via helicopter or car, it depends on some external factors. I will let you know.

For the plate, Jimmy will take care of its making, and then he'll update you. You might try to think which could be its best position in the village.

Ale and Carlotta should probably be there with us too, on the 12th.

I still didn't have time to read carefully the expenses report, so for now I won't comment on that.I will follow up on this matter as soon as I manage to check all the expenses.

So for now I'll wait to hear from you about the 7 remaining houses/families. As the deadline you gave is tomorrow, I expect to receive an update tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Sorry if I ask it this way, but as you can imagine this is a really important matter for me, my family and my father's memory.

Take care Sure, and God bless

Gio


Dear Gio, I have given my comments in green colour below, next to your concern.

From: Giovanni Stella <[email protected]>To: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>; vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>; Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 2:05:01 PMSubject: Re: Fw: Report

Hi Sure,

thank you for your summary.

I've red it carefully tonight I appreciate the level of detail you've put.

Of course I do have things to ask you/tell you:

You wrote that if the remaining 7 families will not occupy the houses by the 18th, which is tomorrow, you will hand over the house to some other families.

These sounds good to me; the question is now: what is the situation like with these families?Did they occupy the houses in the meanwhile? Are the houses still to be occupied?If so, do you already know who else could occupy them?

All families collected their documents to occupy but it is a matter of interest and attitude. What we found was the people who have the lowest income, who do not have anything at all were very keen to contribute their labour and time for their new shelter. Some have the attitude of staying at IDP (Internally Displaced Persons Camps) for free benefits while staying in here. To control this we took early measures. When we assigned the houses we have obtained from these families a document signed which was clearly explained top them with the consultation of DS nad during presence that, in the event that they are unable occupy the house assigned to them for whatever reason the DS will assign the house to another homeless family.This was further ellaborated to them that even if these families meet with any difficulty perhaps personnel / or not if they do not occupy they must hand over the house to DS and if they want to show up at the houses just to please the authorities and us and later lock them up and get back to a refugee camp or a camp for the Internally displaced persons for free benefits their houses will be re possesed by us with the intervention of DS. So the position of these families We got find out through a visit after 18th. If they are identified as " no interest / negative " we re posses the houses. If there are acceptable difficulties we consult DS and with their consent hand over the houses to another party so that occupying does not become another problem for them. The advantage we have here is that the Local Political Minister is in the same thinking and during the last few weeks he have made continuous visits to the village and have made the same remarks to people. We are informed by the people that he is trying to do the remaining seven houses which from the original 30 which we had not re constructed and trying to upgrade the water well we excavated. These could be political promises but at least it is good that someones stay around this village to up lift hope of people. If you can remenber in the list of DS we had nearly 40 families selected for beneficiaries. It is not difficult to find them and assign a house and then it is only a matter of exchanging few documents to include the new names in other admin documents and to report to respective authorities.

We need to move with anticipation, as it would be quite disappointing if 7 houses will be to be left empty.

Can you please let me know something asap on this matter? If tomorrow you are going to change 7 beneficiaries I want to be informed. Yes I will let you know Regarding our visit, I already have bought tickets for me and my mother, Renata Schisano.We will arrive in Colombo the morning of the 9th,and I can confirm you that we plan to visit Thirukkovil on the 12th.

The idea is to stay st site from the morning to the evening, and then move. This program might be subject to my mother's conditions, as I wanna be sure that she'll be fine.

We do not want to do anything spectacular, just a small ceremony with the beneficiaries and the authorities.. Ideally we'd like the DS (and any other relevant authority) to be there with us, as he had a key role in this project, and to make this ceremony more official.If he won't be able to attend, we will visit him. Anyway, I want to meet him, so please help me with this matter. This is great news.I will draw some plans with the team. With this I am Able to contact DS and write an official invitation to Him and keep the Minister Informed. Generally the Local Minister will get together with the village / community during this kind of events.As at today DS did not have any appointment. When I, as Project Coordinator make an official request He should consider. I will keep you posted.

We might give a little simple speech, if my mother wants to prepare something, and then we might just stay there with the beneficiaries talking with them and listening to them. We could then have lunch all together there.

We do not want or intend to do anything big, or exaggerated. We just want to meet the families, check the houses and enjoy the great job that was done. Yes, this sound a simple plan and I am able to send this message to DS and Minister so that they communicate with families. I still don't know whether we'll reach Thirukkovil via helicopter or car, it depends on some

external factors. I will let you know.I wonder if you are communicating to a local agent re the travel in helicopter. It is time saving. The travel by road will take 10 to 12 hours at a low speed. The roads are fine, except for appox 1 km or half a km the rest have been upgraded by the government with carpetting. If your mother will feel comfortable travelling by road perhaps with a break in between travelling by road through a comfortable vehicle which could be hired easily and will be cost effective. There are few logistics involved such as obtaining security permits when we exit from the area which could be arranged without problem. For the plate, Jimmy will take care of its making, and then he'll update you. You might try to think which could be its best position in the village.

Ale and Carlotta should probably be there with us too, on the 12th.Notorious ALE, Good to see him. I thought he is at LA -US busy after MJ s issue. Give my Regards.Who is Carlotta? I still didn't have time to read carefully the expenses report, so for now I won't comment on that.I will follow up on this matter as soon as I manage to check all the expenses. Yes Gio, This ia something that I never expected to send you, but of course 4 months vs 10 months even our low Admin costs was difficult to be covered on my own. I tried several organisations to involve them for community centre , water, etc during the period so at least the admin costs are covered but they did not respond. Some came to the site and went. Their agenda is totally different from your fathers that is the reason. At the moment all our guys are down trying to get some business.In case you send something contact Vinoth cause my Account is freezed at the moment. I have to send you details of another Account.What to do its part of life. Ups and Downs. I gotta face them cos my way of doing things have been different.

So for now I'll wait to hear from you about the 7 remaining houses/families. As the deadline you gave is tomorrow, I expect to receive an update tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Sorry if I ask it this way, but as you can imagine this is a really important matter for me, my family and my father's memory. I will update you.

Take Care, God Bless You.


Dear Gio, Hope you have received the mail I had sent you yesterday. I will get in touch with the Minister Today and send you another mail. In the meantime could you let me know when the additional expense could be covered. It is important that we settle the dues to local hardware - Thanujey Stores and the skilled labour fees outstanding before we make a visit for final arrangements and complete all payments due to others. Send me a mail or txt Vinoth. Thanks & God Bless You. Sure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 18 luglio 2009 10.07A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>, Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

I received your email.

Let me know what happens with the 7 remaining beneficiaries, as this is the biggest urgency at the moment.

For everything related to the expenses I need to finish to check your reports first, and then I'll let you know what is my opinion on the matter.

I'll get back to you soon, in the meanwhile I'll be waiting for your updates on the actual situation at site.

Ciao and take care,

Gio


Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Dear Gio, Thanks for your mail and the concerns clearly laid down. First, balance 7 families. - status;I am yet to receive an update from Local people and Minister, will send you the info soon. May be today evening. We do not have an office functioning there and depend only on phone calls received by Vinoth and my communication with DS. I am re sending the info I mailed yo on July 1st highlighting two sentences which explain you why there is a difference between the BRIEF EXPENSE REPORT AND THE DETAILED EXPENSE REPORT.I will also send you further clarifications which I understand that you may require to table them for the other benefactors and that those information shall be transparent. from mail of July 1st 2009." Prior to reading your mail I collecetd the available info and made a brief expense report which include some expenses as cumilative totals and a summary of action points I want to follow up in consultation with DS and the Team. A detailed expense report which will include all valued inputs for the project will come to you after I sit down with the team and obtain all views and data." Baically we did not have a fully automated management system at Thirukkovil and Colombo linked to have every information updated as soon as activities take place. Hence some details were obtained after sitting down with the team. My time - was calculated after discussing with the team whether my inputs are valuable or not.You will receive further details regarding this.

You had mentioned about funding in 2006 ? Perhaps it is a mistake, we started communicating in mid 2008. You had quoted the detail of my mail re my offer with discounted price of 8 million from original 15 million and agreeing to do 23 houses from 30 with slight changes.. Yes I agree and this was an highly optimostic figure which I had not realised that the status of houses were different from each other. Anyway I had offered you a half price from the original value without reducing the no of houses to half of 30. When you were here last August you would have seen to your own eyes that status of the houses. Only the foundation and block walls which was also not in excellent shape to continueas it is. The trees grown within the houses the damages etc. It is my mistake and may be I have to pay the price. I do not know. But let me understand, according to agreement in front of the lawyer / my mails to you and most importantly with deep respect to my face value and without going against my self conciousness I had completed the part possible as an individual driving a small team. I am happy about it, whether I receive bonus or not. Perhaps it is due to some respect I had towards your father whom I had never seen and is precious quality of "giving" and his son who step up to continue the kindness of thy father which is very rare in todays world. I am happy that with my small team here and with the minimum admin expense possible I have managed to complete the project beyond limits of a normal building contractor and perhaps that the previous benefactors from 2005 too would be pleased that their donations have not gone waste. I cannot gather from your last mail whether the benefactors from your side including your family is trying to consider covering the additional cost or not. Because it has nothing to do with agreements. I can send a further ellaborated report regarding expenses and other inputs to the level of verification you requested but again how transparent they would be remain a question.

i.e accounts statements, bank statements, letters from banks, Payment Vouchers, bills from hardwares, payments made to local vendors who do not produce bills, any other expense details related to a project of this nature. Please note that I have not demanded anything from you but have sent you and your benefactors some information to understand we met this additional expense and made a request. So let me please understand clearly in black/white so I keep the team updated and find solutions and different directions to set up our future while recovering. You will receive a detailed clarification soon but copies of invoices, bills you may have to come here and see and beleive in someone who may translate them to you. Hope to recieve clear info to conclude my understanding. God bless you Sure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 18 luglio 2009 17.18A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: vinoth lal dharme <[email protected]>Ccn: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>, Alessandro Giberti <[email protected]>, Margaret Kennedy <[email protected]>, [email protected]

Hi Sure,

here are my considerations on the 2 expenses reports that I received on July 1st and 14th, and my answer to your latest request for money to be sent to you for the coverage of outstanding expenses.

Considerations and Reports analysis

On July 9th, 2008 you committed to the following (as per the email that you sent to me):

"We will complete 23 houses at a minimum price of Local Rupees 8 million with the following changes from our previous offer (Which was of 15,982,180 Rupees). Changes –1.The total houses to be completed -23 nos from 30 houses.

2. The ceiling for houses will be excluded3. We have excluded the pavement around the house4. Finishes for Door windows will be normal enamel paint instead of Spray Painting Finish. These changes will not affect the functional value of the houses."

On August 15th, 2008 in Colombo at the presence of Mr. A.Gangatharan, Attorney at law and Notary Public, Alessandro, Jimmy and Tilak we agreed that the job would have been completed under the above conditions, at the price of 8 million Rupees (49.400 €), and we all signed a written agreement.

This means that, being the team leader in charge of the project, one of your duties was to keep expenditures within the agreed allocated amount.

Given your final report, the total amount that my family gave to you was 8.833.106,7 Rupees (54.544 €), which is to say 833.106,7 Rupees (5.144 Euro) more than the initial price.

This amount was donated even if there's been a 6 months delay (not completely justified) in the original deadline that you provided me with in August, which was December 31st, and even if you didn't always stick to the commitment (also stated in the above agreement) of keeping constant contact with me.

In our last conversation on the phone on this matter in May, I explained you that my family couldn't afford to cover other expenses, because the total amount of donations that we made since the beginning in 2006 was way way higher than the 8.8 million Rupees that we gave to you.

Had you to cover other expenses in addition to the 8.83 million Rupees, you should have asked me in advance, so that I could have taken a decision and eventually given you the green light to proceed.

Having clarified that we cannot afford to make other donations, and the reasons behind this communication, I anyway want to analyze with you the reports that you sent me.

Firstly, these reports that you are providing are extensive and detailed, and provide a good overview of the expenses that were covered.

Nevertheless these reports are not crystal clear (for the reasons that I will explain below), nor transparent enough, as all original receipts/invoices are still missing, or at least have not been attached to your reports as a Proof of Payment.

Until all original receipts/invoices will not be presented, all costs and expenses included in the 2 reports can't be checked and matched:I would have no other way to check this payments but to trust your word.

Having said this, going through these 2 reports there's a total difference of 756.754 Rupees between the first and the second report, and which has been added to the first report that you sent.

Reading through the notes of the report that you sent on July 1st, there might be a partial explanation of the new expenses that is summarized in the following statement:

"We have not accounted for the time and cost incurred for the total coordination activity of this proect whichIncludes the following travel of team members to Divisional Secretary , District Secretariat Ampara, Electricity Board, Water Board, Survey Department, Security Councils, Local Ministries Time

of Project Leader and monthly cost of Team LeaderThe Labour days related to these coordination activities are not included in the labour total of above summary"(Highlighted in red at the bottom of the right hand side of the file that I attached you)

This means that the following costs can be explained with the previous statement:(All values in Rupees)

450.000 for Team Leader20.000 for Meals & Refreshment during travel

Given these assumptions, in the final report there are costs that have been added and that still don't have a clear explanation.

Here is the detail:

12.000 for Stationary Costs12.000 for Electricity Costs+112.130 (compared to the first report) for Diesel/Fuel (322.457-210.327)17.500 for Bus Fare for Team Members+100.000 for Cement - Concrete/plaster/floor/finishing (636.375 - 536.375)5.500 for Tube Well and Transport+99.304 for the category Food/Welfare expenses at site (1.039.800 - 940.496)

There is also one voice - Vehicle Hire - which amount is lower than in the first report:

- 71.680 (1.300.000 - 1.228.320)

These calculations lead to a non explained difference in costs between the 2 reports that is as following:

10.406.329,5 (total cost as per final report)- 9.649.575,5 (total cost as per first report)- 470.000 (total expenses added in the final report as an adjustment for the coordination activity)

= 286.754

I kindly ask you to clarify the nature of these expenditures, and why these have not been included in the first report, or explained in the second.

Other Comments

As you know, and as I've already said, my family went through massive donations to make this project possible.We firmly believe that we've been more than fair to you and all the team, trying to provide you with all the donations and the assistance possible (given the fact that we're so far away from Sri Lanka).Nevertheless, as I mentioned to you in previous emails and conversations I intend to give bonuses and "awards" to the key figures that made this project possible, which is to say You, Jimmy and Vinoth. This is because in spite of the problems and delays that it went through, I want to show our appreciation to the 3 persons that more than anyone made this possible.Conditions, time and terms and of the above bonuses are subject to mine and my family's decision, capability and will only, and their assignation will happen when the project will be finished (all houses will be occupied).

Having exposed you my considerations on this matter, I remind you to please keep me informed of

how the situation evolves in regards to the houses that still have to be occupied.

I'm waiting to hear back from you soon,

until then take care.

Ciao,

Gio

Here is the detail:

12.000 for Stationary Costs - Costs incurred for paper/ boards/ photo copies/ letters to authorities / beneficiaries / pens/ pencils/ markers/ pins/ tape/ etc etc required for record keeping and maintenance of bills / details re works, files, cd's, batteries, calculator, note books averaged to 1200/= per month/12.000 for Electricity Costs - electricity cost for machinery used for fabrication of door /window frames & sashes, palining of timber, routering, glazing etc - 3 months averaged at 4000/= a month +112.130 (compared to the first report) for Diesel/Fuel (322.457-210.327) as stated the costs incurred for purchasing, fuel for water pump, for lamps, travel costs are not included for the rate of meals per day, we have computed the bills received 17.500 for Bus Fare for Team Members - There was no vehicle given to coordinators for travel, this is an averaged figure for the ten months for the three members+100.000 for Cement - Concrete/plaster/floor/finishing (636.375 - 536.375) actual bill calculated once site details were received5.500 for Tube Well and Transport This tube well was made in colombo and transported within three days to ensure people have water at site when we leave them this is what they use now as no authority have come forward to help. +99.304 for the category Food/Welfare expenses at site (1.039.800 - 940.496) we have included an averaged rate in first repoert but isolated the expenses at site - thirukkovil and at colombo workshop

There is also one voice - Vehicle Hire - which amount is lower than in the first report:

- 71.680 (1.300.000 - 1.228.320) - The actual receipts calculated hence the figure comes down.

These calculations lead to a non explained difference in costs between the 2 reports that is as following:

10.406.329,5 (total cost as per final report)- 9.649.575,5 (total cost as per first report)- 470..000 (total expenses added in the final report as an adjustment for the coordination activity)

Hi Sure,

thanks for your emails.

I appreciate that you are explaining me the discrepancies between the two reports.On the other side, there is still no evidence for each of these expenses.This is a problem, but it is not the biggest:more important is what i wrote below.

So, let me start from this:"You had quoted the detail of my mail re my offer with discounted price of 8 million from original 15 million and agreeing to do 23 houses from 30 with slight changes.. Yes I agree and this was an highly optimostic figure which I had not realised that the status of houses were different from each other. Anyway I had offered you a half price from the original value without reducing the no of houses to half of 30."

Firstly, If you remember last July I asked you to provide me with another proposal that was half the original price that you proposed, and so you did.I asked to receive such a proposal because our budget couldn't allow us to pay 15 million rupees on top of what we already paid in 2005 (not to you, but we paid it anyway to the previous team lead). We signed an agreement where you accepted to finish the project at the price of 8 million rupees, not 10.5 million.If you knew that 8 million wasn't realistic you shouldn't had told me so, because 2.5 million rupees is an amount that does make a difference.When you sent me the proposed price of 8 million rupees I assumed that you had done an accurate check of the conditions of the houses, and that the proposal was realistic.After this, and after all the problems that we and you went through this year, we sent 5.400 Euro more in different instalments, because we wanted to put you in the best conditions to work and finish the job.This 5.400 Euro were already on top of the 8 millions upon which we agreed last year.

I have to ask you: If you knew that you had to spend 1.7 million rupees more than the allocated budget (8 million+833.000 rupees) why didn't you ask me in advance? I've been asking you for an expense report since May 11th, which is to say a week after my last bank transfer to you.You ignored my requests, and I received a report only in July.Why didn't you tell me in May that you still needed 1.6 million rupees?I'm really sorry Sure, but unfortunately my family is not a bank and we can't afford to produce another 1.6 million rupees on top of what we already paid.

Secondly I would like to point out the fact that it's true that you completed 23 houses instead of 30 for half the first price that you offered, but the quality of materials and the level of accuracy of the job has been different, as you specified in your proposal when you said:1.The total houses to be completed -23 nos from 30 houses.2. The ceiling for houses will be excluded3. We have excluded the pavement around the house4. Finishes for Door windows will be normal enamel paint instead of Spray Painting Finish.

This is the state of things as for now.

Anyway, I will be down in Sri Lanka quite soon, as I'll be there on August 9th.

Should you have any further question,we can discuss them then, or feel free to write me.

Beside the expenses issue, do you have any update about the non occupied houses? It is important that we clear it as soon as possible.

Let me know, and take care

Gio


Thanks Gio, Its clear now that you are unable to provide funds to cover this. So I will make the total value of this project, and detail the contribution from , 3 parties. Stella & Family, Sri Lankan Government, Surrendra Wijerathne which will included to my final report.You may have to obtain services of a local quantity surveyor to analyse the cost. We may have to change the name of this village as it will not be fair for one party to take credit and you may advise jimmy to do so in the plaque or whatever he will put up. According to your previous mails you have to satisfy the previous benefactors who had been a part of this when your father started the project. So your team now have the outcomes to show them do not worry. One thing should be clearly mentioned The quality of material & the level of accuracy - this must be corrected as we have not used low quality material for any work - in -accuracy has been only in terms of time. We have not put your money to learn or test construction methods. The intelectual property inputs for this project has not been valued as in the case of many things. So until my next mail,with answers to the points you have raised, which will be the last to you, All the best.God bless you.Sure.

Giovanni Stella <[email protected]> 22 luglio 2009 14.31A: Surendra Wijerathne <[email protected]>Cc: jimmy marathy <[email protected]>

Hi Sure,

first of all: you have not answered my questions to explain me why you never told that you couldn't finish the job within the allocated budget.

Please answer all the question that i made you in my previous email.

Then: you don't know what is the total value of the contribution of my family,as you don't know how much we donated in 2005 to the previous constructor, so I don't see how you intend to detail my family's contribution? Could you clarify?

Second: what does this mean?"You may have to obtain services of a local quantity surveyor to analyse the cost". Please clarify

Third:my family is by far the main benefactor behind this,and we have bank transfers since 2005 to prove this. So beware when you say that it wouldn't be fair for us to take credit, and beware when you say that somebody else should be taking as much as credit as my father.

Fourth: I never intended to say that you used low quality materials, read my email with attention. What I said is that for 8 million rupees you explained us that you couldn't finish some details, which you wrote down in the email. I never thought that you were making any kind of test with those houses.

Please let me know asap,

and Take care.

Gio

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