Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
PAULWELL
DESPITE A damning report on the cement crisis implicating the Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL), Industry and Commerce Minister Phillip Paulwell yesterday said that the country should not "write off" the company.
Making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate, Mr. Paulwell released the executive summary of the findings of the investigative team appointed by him.
The findings revealed that there were batches of "non-conforming cement" released into the market by the company that were not recalled. "There are significant findings in the investigation report ... while the production of non-conforming cement can occur in any cement plant, the quality systems in the CCCL should have prevented the distribution of this cement," said the minister.
Mr. Paulwell said CCCL would have been aware that the values for two key quality indicators were falling from as early as October 2005.
"But the company took no corrective action to remedy the situation," he told the House. "The sampling programme by the Bureau (of Standards Jamaica) was inadequate to effectively monitor the quality of cement," he added.
But while releasing part of the report, which he said would be made available in its entirety today, he also called on the country to support the company.
"We are hurting now, but as Jamaicans it is in our interest that the CCCL survives this crisis and thrive once again with abundant domestic supplies and expand into exports," he said.
He urged the country to take a holistic and longer-term view, and not to give in to this "knee-jerk move".
But this did not appease the Opposition members, who insisted that he should resign. The Speaker of the House, Michael Peart, had to intervene before Mr. Paulwell could continue his presentation.
Read the full report on the cement crisis on the ministry's website at www.mct.gov.jm.
