1. Activities and Achievements of the Month
1.1 Summary of Progress
The Country’s ongoing office closure due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 infection has severely been affecting the Project implementation activities. The closure of public and private offices started from 26 March 2020. The closure period which was initially up to 4 April, has been extended to 11th, 14th, 25th April, and then up to 5th, 16 May.
Under this condition, the Project Implementation Consultant Team’s field activities had to be suspended. International consultants’ despatch batches “India” (for 29/Mar – 23/Apr with three members), “Juliet” (05/Apr – 12/May with 5 members), and “Kilo” (10-20/May with three members) have been postponed. The activities, under such circumstances, were restricted to what could be done through remote online communications among the team members, with some interaction with the individuals of the executing agencies and some the private sector stakeholders. The following items were the major activities of the team.
- Project scope enhancement – revision and enhancement of the eligible technology and equipment list for the Project loan, focusing on knitting, dyeing & finishing processes, steel making and chemical sectors.
- Quarterly Progress Report for quarter ended March 2020 (QPR15) preparation and submission, including the monitoring of the implementation status of the Environment and Social Management System (ESMS) and the preparation of reports.
- Project MIS functions improvements (testing of additional reporting function and change request monitoring modules).
- Communication with a major international textile & garment retailer on promotion of EEC in their product supply chain.
1.2 Eligible Technologies and Equipment Revision
The work has already started when the PI Consultant Team, back in January, heard from both IDCOL and BIFFL on their suggestions to enhance the eligible technologies and equipment list. The two implementing financial institutions (IFIs) had prepared a their “wish lists” to be able to better respond to the needs of the markets for the loan. Among the requests from the IFIs, knitwear manufacturing and dyeing and finishing were the most wanted sub-sectors. In parallel with the IFIs requests, SREDA has been seeking for the possibility to include heavy industry sector (such as steel, glass manufacturing, chemical), as well as newer sub-sectors in manufacturing like pharmaceutical, electronics, plastic manufacturing.
In response to these requests from the executing agencies, the PI Consultant Team, in communication with the technical and marketing experts in relevant sectors, identified some of the new technologies which may contribute to energy efficiency as follows:
- Complete garment knitting machine
- Cold pad batch dyeing machine for kit fabrics
- Automation system for existing dyeing machines
- Low liquor ratio jet dyeing machine
- Roller press for cement manufacturing
- Arc furnace for steel mills
- Endless bar rolling for steel mills
- Regenerative burner for steel mills
- Bipolar electrolyzer for soda manufacturing
The above list is still tentative, and further elaboration is being required.
Together with an effort to identify energy efficient technologies, the PI Consultant Team has also looked into defining the eligible portion of the equipment for the loan. This is meant to facilitate the loan to cover the procurement cost of the eligible equipment. For example, a chiller comprises a core portion of the air conditioning system, and the chiller is most likely to be procured as an element of the air conditioning system as a whole (not likely to be procured as an individual chiller device). It was found, through the experience of Project implementation that the loan should cover the entire procurement amount for it to be user friendly for the borrowers.
There was another motivation for defining an eligible portion, which was to promote efficient operation of the factories, especially with the textile factories.
The PI Consultant Team, having found that automation is desperately required for making the process efficient and also improving the product quality. Some ancillary equipment for weaving is being proposed as the eligible portion to be included in the procurement of loom. This is meant to make full use of the energy efficient machines by improving the operation ratio of the equipment through automation.
1.3 Project MIS Testing on Improvement Features
Based on the specifications prepared by Dr Mahady Hasan, the PI Consultant Team’s ICT environment and data management expert, the Project MIS developer, CSL Software Resources Ltd created improvement modules to be added onto the existing MIS. With these modules, more analysis and presentations can be conducted and also, change records can be managed within the MIS. The proposed improvement was expected to be launched and applied this month, but with the stagnation of routine Project implementation activities during the month, further detailed tests are now being considered, taking advantages of the current situation. The test will be conducted to ensure that the required functions are available in most optimal manner.
Findings from the tests conducted will be kept as a record, to be shared with the users and CSL Software Resources by Dr Mahady Hasan at the end of the month. It includes some of the remaining issues to be addressed, both by the user (executing agencies) and the developer. The test report will be further revised to incorporate continuing efforts to improve the information system.
2. Attachments
<not be published on website>
Appendix 08-1: Proposed Revision – Eligible Technology and Equipment List
(tentative, as of 30 April 2020)
Appendix 08-2: Progress Reporting on Identification of Energy Efficient Technologies in Dyeing and Finishing Machines (wet process)
Appendix 08-3: Test on MIS Issues Module (test cases development)