ALLOW IMPORT TO SOLVE CEMENT SHORTAGE

EMPTY…. Only one bag of cement left in the store.

By : DAP MEDIA

THE recent acute shortage of cement supply in the market had caused numerous public out cry and complaints, especially with the construction sector and the developers of housing projects.

The cement is the compulsory item needed in the construction sector had caused a change reaction in the industries which definitely is a total lost to many people. The developers and the contractors will get the first hit, because this is their compulsory ingredient needed to put up houses and complexes. Without cement they are helpless and the construction industry will come to a complete stop.

The Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament office has received numerous request and complaints from the people who are deeply affected by the shortage or none supply of the cement. After checking with the cement suppliers and the hardware shops, it is true that the supply is very short in the market at the moment. Many construction sites had come to a halt and workers are sitting around doing nothing while waiting for the cement.

The users also complained that the retailed prices varied from place to place and from suppliers to suppliers. Some is selling at RM18 and the highest is RM25 for a 50 kg bag of cement.

Hiew had spoken to the CIS (Cement Industry Sabah Sdn. Bhd.) in Sepanggar Bay, a sole supplier of cement in Sabah which is owned by the Sabah Eocomic Development Corporation (SEDCO) on the problems faced by the consumers.

They said it is not as bad as what is had been circulated, and their production rate is as high as three thousand tons per day, and it is enough to cover the need of the construction industry in Sabah. The CIS said they do not understand why they had supplied the usual quantity of cement but there is still an acute shortage.

They said there was a little delay in the raw material (clinkers) arrival last month, but that the problems have been over come and may be also because of this there is a bit tight on the supply.

They said that this is unexpected. Hiew asked on why there is hundreds of lorry queuing up to load the cement from the mill? They replied that this is normal and it had been like that for a long time now.

ARRIVED…..Lorry load of fresh cement just arrived from CIS mill.

CIS confirmed that there will be no price hike as speculated and this will not happen during this period. The possible reason for the acute shortage could be due to the talk on the possible price hike, and that pushes the retailers to stock pile the cement to make some money pending the price hike being announced. They also said that CIS cannot have full control the price of cement due to the prevailing raw material supply price, but they will try to accommodate the fluctuation of prices and production cost.

Hiew received comments and requests from the consumers to propose to CIS to set up their own retail depots to sell cement directly to the user, so that the price is controlled and not being inflated by the retailers as they like.

This will effectively keep the price at an affordable level. The ex-factory price of a bag of cement now is only RM15 per bag. The retailers will have to add on the transportation, and handling charges plus profit on the sale of cement.

Hiew said that the government should provied easy approval on the APs (import permits) on the import of cement from outside of Malaysia. There is no import duty at the moment to deter the people from importing the cement into Sabah.

We need to have cheaper and enough cement to speed up over building industry and development. The general house buyers can only afford to buy cheaper houses. The government should consider implementing this measure immediately and not trying just to protect the government owned CIS. Let them import the cement and flood the market with cheaper cement as long as the imported cement meets the required standard and approved by SIRIM.