The second phase expansion of GRI’s production facility in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which began in January 2021, is reportedly progressing well despite the challenges posed by the current lockdown in the country. The new specialty tire manufacturing plant is being built next to GRI’s current facility with a total investment of US$100m.
The aim of the expansion is to enhance the company’s current production capacity to 750,000 tires per year with a total capacity of 100 tons per day. This has seen the installed machine capacity increase from 25 tons of tires per day in January to 35 tons per day presently. The company’s plan is to reach a production capacity of 1,000 tons of tires per month by July and it says all the required machinery for this phase of expansion has been commissioned.
“The building expansion work is ongoing for the entire land. We will be doubling the extent of the production facility. The total area will be 220,000ft2 which is the size of over four football (soccer) fields. We hope to complete construction by October this year and by December we will have an installed capacity of 50 tons per day. GRI will further install capacity to reach 100 tons per day in 2022,” explained Ananda Caldera, executive director of GRI.
The new facility will also expand GRI’s solar panel initiative and generate 2.5MW of solar power. “We will focus on optimizing energy efficiency, water conservation and waste management. The building is designed in a way that during the day the facility will be illuminated by natural light. Greening of the production facility will be done by planting over 75 trees on the premises,” noted Mahesha Ranasoma, CEO of GRI.
Despite the travel restrictions imposed with the advent of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, the company reports that construction work continues on schedule.
