THE JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) has announced that it con-tinues to receive complaints from players in the construction sector regarding its inability to import sufficient quantities of cement.
"Persons who have applied for permits to import cement have had no approval to do so in any significant quantities," Senator Shirley Williams, Opposition Spokesperson for Industry, Commerce and Investment, said in a statement Tuesday.
Senator Williams is demanding that the Government justify its decision to circumvent the commercial sector by importing some 100,000 tonnes of cement from Cuba.
"The party demands that the country be told which Ministry of Government will be distributing the cement, from where and to whom it will be sold," she said.
DEFIED THE BUREAU
Additionally, Senator Williams said the supply problems have been compounded by allegations that Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) has defied the Bureau of Standards by opening a "detained silo and attempted to market its contents".
As a result, Senator Williams reiterated her party's call for the Bureau of Standards to enter the premises of the CCCL under the provisions of the Bureau of Standards (Additional Functions) Regulations (1980) to verify the manufacturing processes being followed by the company.
"The JLP condemns the Government for the continued bungling of the cement crisis and its refusal to intervene in any significant manner in the best interest of the country," she said.
