(PDF, 101 mb) - USAID

December 8, 1982
To: Roger Newburn and Henry Muzaale
From: Dale S. Bonde
Subject: Tre Retreadinx Plant
On December 7, 1982 I visited the Kassam's Automobile
House, Ltd. in Kampala. Mr. Amir Kassam is the owner of
this organization. The original plant was established in
1954, but in 1960 the plant was destroyed by fire. In 1970
Mr. Kassam took over the plant and installed new machinery.
Mr. Kassam left Uganda in 1972 and returned in 1981 to find
all the tyre molds damaged beyond repair. He is now in the
process of ordering a new retreading plant. The machinery
will cost $1,250,000 plus an additional $750,000 for a
six-month supply of camelback needed for the retreading
process. He expects to have the plant operational by
March 1, 1983 with the benefit of financing via bank loans.
Mr. Kassam has ordered an Italian-made machine called CISAP,
a cold cap retreading machine. He is also installing a
German process called Trademaster, which is a hot process
retreading machine. About two years ago there was a process
similar to the Treadmaster recaps.
A friend of mine invested
his life savings in a recap plant, and the system did not
work so he went bankrupt.
Mr. Kassam is a dealer in Bridgestone tvres which are made
in Japan, which for a new 1200 x 20 truck tvre costs $560.
As a rule of thumb, a retread costs approximately 50 percent
of the cost of a new tyre. A retreaded tyre will get about
80 percent mileage as compared to a new tyre. Listed below
are the comparative costs of the cold and hot cap tyres:
Size
Cold Cap
Hot Cap
900 x 20
1000 x 20
1200 x 20
$ 148.40
$ 180.80
$ 263.60
$ 112.10
$ 13.80
$ 181.70
The above prices include 30 percent duty and 30 percent
sales tax. These prices also include mounting or dismounting
the tyre. There is no warranty'on the retread. The life of
a 900 x 20 tyre is 28,000 miles, and a passenger car tyre,
25,000 miles.
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