16392/1TSUNAMI IN ASIA: A BUSINESSMAN from Trowbridge is to play a key role in helping rebuild tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.

Philip Mossman will fly out to Colombo on Sunday where he will co-ordinate efforts to provide replacement housing in the capital city.

Mr Mossman, 58, is technical director of the FEE Group, a leisure and entertainment company with strong links in the region.

Through his work Mr Mossman has got to know Sri Lanka's finance and tourism ministers and will now use his expertise to help the government rebuild the country.

He said: "I'll be going out this weekend under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance, but I don't know for how long.

"There's no point in having anybody on the ground eating the food and drinking the water if they are getting in the way. I'm only going out there now they've got a specific role for me."

Mr Mossman and his wife Andrea used to own the Hilbury Court Hotel in Trowbridge, but he has spent most of his working life in Asia.

He is a project manager and he believes this expertise will be vital when he arrives in Sri Lanka.

He said: "I'll be in Colombo to start, a lot of the housing that is being redeveloped is in an area called Mount Lavinia.

"I will have two basic functions: to co-ordinate between the Ministry of Finance and the aid groups and to set up reconstruction projects.

"Two-bed houses can be built for around £900, maybe a little less, and they are going to need around 100,000 of these in Colombo."

Mr Mossman said it was vital people whose homes were destroyed by the tsunami were re-housed as quickly as possible.

He said: "When you look at it, it's an absolute nightmare, but these people have got to be making a living. They don't want to exist on charity for too long."

"As soon as we found out about the disaster the first thing I did was to try to contact our employees and friends out there.

"We were the first people from Britain to contact the ministry directly and it was 24 hours before anyone else did. At that stage it was looking like only 1,000 people were killed.

"Because the TV and radio weren't broadcasting, people outside the country knew what was happening faster than those in Sri Lanka itself."

Mr Mossman and his colleagues have set up a 'charge free' bank account in which all the cash they raise can be paid directly to the Sri Lankan government.

The company has arranged a gala dinner for 800 people at the Grosvenor Hotel, London on April 16. Sixties singer Kenny Lynch, who is entertainment director of one of FEE's subsidiaries, is busy recruiting celebrities for the event.

Peewee Hunt, landlord of the White Swan in Trowbridge, is good friends with Mr Mossman and will hold fundraising events for FEE's appeal at the pub. They hope to raise £1,000 from Mr Hunt's 60th birthday celebration on March 3.