Tyrone Reid, Staff ReporterPRIME MINISTER Portia Simpson Miller has finally yielded to the calls for her intervention into the country's mounting cement crisis by announcing a further extension to the waiver on cement imports to one year.
On Tuesday, Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Technology Energy and Commerce, announced the temporary removal of the Common External Tariff (CET) of 15 per cent from imports over the next three months.
However, Mrs. Simpson Miller yesterday announced importers would be given a year.
Senator Shirley Williams, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Spokesperson on Industry, Commerce and Investment, argued that the Prime Minister's intervention proved that Mr. Paulwell was incompetent.
"It is proof enough that he is unable to function ... she needs to remove the minister," Ms. Williams said.
MOVE LAUDED
Meanwhile, the construction industry yesterday congratulated Mrs. Simpson Miller on her action.
"Very good move by the Prime Minister. It shows that we are being listened to," stated Errol Salkey, chairman of the Hardware Merchants Association (HMA).
The Incorporated Master-builders Association of Jamaica (IMAJ) expressed similar sentiments.
"We, the industry, are grateful for the positive intervention. There is some indication that somebody is listening to the industry," emphasised Raymond Cooper, IMAJ vice-president.
A statement from the office of the Prime Minister said the PM's intervention was geared towards eliminating "the supply problems being experienced by the con-struction and hardware sectors."
SOURCE STABLE SUPPLY
Mrs. Simpson Miller said she hoped the extension of the duty-free regime would clear the way for potential importers in their efforts to source a stable supply to meet the shortfall in the local market.
The Prime Minister said she was anticipating that the full benefits of the duty waiver would be passed on to the consumer.
MAJOR CONCESSION
Mrs. Simpson Miller, who said the new import regime represented a major concession by Govern-ment, said she was fully aware of the hardship being caused by the current situation, particularly to construction workers and hardware merchants.
At the same time, Douglas Orane, chairman and chief executive officer of GraceKennedy Limited, said that in his estimation the country had not fully grasped the magnitude of the cement crisis.
Mr. Orane, who was speaking at his company's pre-Labour Day press briefing yesterday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston, revealed that the entire group, including its subsidiary Hardware and Lumber, was feeling the pinch.
"We are seeing people buying less food. One hundred thousand people in the construction industry are either out of work or underemployed and I have real concerns about it," he said.
