PP Richard and team have managed to get the School Project to the point that we have remitted initial funds to start the construction. Key points of the project are as follows:
1. The budget remains at US$30K. There is currently A$39K in the RAWCS account with a further A$15K committed from our club ($5K) and from a private donor ($10K). The financial risks to the project are a building cost overrun and the A$/US$ exchange rate falling below 0.56.
2. The cost quote has been independently validated by an engineer with experience on similar projects. Anecdotally, the architect husband of the President of the Rotary Club of Dili (together with the Club President) had a site visit with Angelo Raveane and he had no significant comments on the building design.
3. Roles and responsibilities and reporting requirements are laid out in the project planning document. Financial controls have been agreed with the most important ones being – (a) the bank account used will be dedicated to this project and must be held separate from other accounts KFH has to manage its agricultural projects; (b) there are 3 signatories on the account; (c) receipts must be provided for every disbursement with reconciliation of amounts received with disbursements made.
4. The breakdown of the US$30K budget is $20K for building materials, $7K for professional building labour which will be supplemented by labour provided by RYLA alumni and the community who will be trained by the professionals, $2K for on-site control and inspection by the independent engineer; and $1K for provision of accommodation and meals for the workforce. The $7k and $2K will be paid 25% on completion of phase 1, 25% on completion of phase 2 and 50% on project completion.
5. While the team in Hera want us to transfer the full amount of funds (around US$9K) to support completion of phase 1, it is our intention to authorise an initial transfer of US$6K from RAWCS. This should be sufficient for work to start on phase 1, for us to ascertain that the building team is engaged and making progress and should also enable us to evaluate how the control systems are working. Additional funds can be transferred quickly as required.