helping will come profits

Quebecer sells prefab houses to Afghanistan
The Gazette, March 21, 2006

Ottawa isn't doing enough to help Canadian businesses tap into the massive market of rebuilding Afghanistan, according to a Quebec entrepreneur who could soon be shipping pre-fabricated homes to the war-torn country from his Eastern Townships plant.

"It's deplorable (Canadian private enterprise) is nowhere in that country," Ivon Le Duc, president of Demtec Inc., said yesterday.

"If the Canadian government is supporting rebuilding with funding, it should ensure some Canadian companies benefit and encourage them."

Le Duc finds the situation unacceptable.

International Co-operation Minister Josee Verner and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay announced March 9 the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will contribute an additional $22 million to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF), bringing Canada's total contribution to date to $109.5 million.

CIDA spokesperson Michele Monette said the ARTF director wasn't available yesterday to explain how the money is being used.

Le Duc decided to go on his own. He signed an agreement in principle last month with the owner of Wahid Construction in the Afghan capital of Kabul, where they plan to build a $5-million plant to make modular homes.

"It's a huge market with an enormous amount to do as far as infrastructure, including housing, clinics, schools and electric power stations," the CEO said. "We are bringing them our expertise."

But it's not the new market the Princeville firm had in its sights - ending up in south Asia rather than South America.

After buying the 20-year-old company last August, Le Duc contacted a CIDA consultant to discuss expanding into South America.

"He suggested instead going to a country where nobody else is and mentioned Afghanistan," Le Duc recalled. "When he said there was nobody else there, he wasn't kidding. ... There was no one there."

Aside from the military, Le Duc said the only other Canadian presence he saw in Kabul was a small SNC-Lavalin office.

SNC spokesperson Gillian MacCormack confirmed the Montreal engineering firm has an office in Afghanistan, one of 30 countries around the world where SNC is present, "but we're not involved in any (rebuilding) projects there that I'm aware of."

Le Duc, a former Montreal councillor and executive committee member responsible for housing, said he is still awaiting an answer from ARTF about a funding request for a feasibility study of the Kabul factory project.

His visa for the business trip was only the 262nd

issued to a Canadian since January 2005.

While he acknowledged Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Afghanistan this month was good, Le Duc said Harper should also be doing more to stimulate investment in reconstruction.

In a February visit to Afghanistan, Le Duc saw other countries like the U.S., Japan and Germany taking advantage of the situation.

Le Duc said Demtec's prefabricated wooden homes are ideal for Afghanistan because they are designed to resist earthquakes, strong winds, extreme temperatures and water infiltration.

Annual revenue of about $10 million expected to double

Demtec Inc., which employs 104 in the high season, is a leader in combining modular and panelized technologies for factory-built homes.

Modular construction saves on labour and assembly at job sites because most work in done in the plant.

Panelized technology allows for construction of a series of wall, partition and floor panels that can be easily shipped by truck or container.

Half of the existing production is exported to more than a dozen countries, with plans to eventually increase exports by 30 per cent.

Annual revenues have been around $10 million, which is expected to double in 2006.