Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
The first shipment of Cuban cement unloaded at the Caribbean Cement Company's pier at Rockfort, Kingston, yesterday. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
SOME 200,000 bags of cement finally arrived on the island last Friday from Cuba to supply the starved local market, Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce (MITEC), announced yesterday.
The first shipment represents 8,000 of a total 72,000 tonnes of cement, which is expected to arrive from Cuba over the next three months. This is in addition to 77,000 bags of cement that were imported by ARC Systems Limited last week.
Mr. Paulwell told The Gleaner following a tour of the Rockfort Pier that the arrival of the cement would ensure that there is adequate supply until the next shipment arrives.
"We are tracking the sales, production and imports to ensure that very quickly our construction industry not only return to normality but to build on the tremendous growth that is taking place (in the market)," he told reporters.
The thousands of bags of cement were unloaded from the vessel docked at Rockfort pier yesterday, and is expected to be released into the market as early as this week.
The cement crisis emerged in February when Caribbean Cement Company had to recall a batch of 500 tonnes of faulty cement, halting deliveries for days at the time.
SEVERELY AFFECTED
Several major construction projects were severely affected, including hotels, Highway 2000, the Half-Way Tree transport centre.
Caribbean Cement Company Limited later admitted that a breakdown in quality control systems at the Rockfort plant was responsible for the delivery of the substandard cement.
"We anticipate in another week or two, sales for this year will surpass last year's and the real crisis we face is how to deal with the additional demand that is taking place," said Mr. Paulwell.
He continued: "We are going to ensure that the cement crisis in terms of supply will be behind us."
As a result of the deepening cement crisis, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller an-nounced a waiver of 15 per cent tariff on cement imports in May, paving the way for private companies to import cement.
ADEQUATE SUPPLIES
But Mr. Paulwell said the Government would be monitoring the situation. "Because we might very well have to continue (to import) if the private sector fails to ensure that we have adequate supplies."
The first shipment of cement from Cuba was expected to arrive in April, but Mr. Paulwell explained that there was a delay because his ministry was having problems sourcing a vessel to transport the cement. He said when they finally got
a vessel, bad weather hit,
preventing the shipment from leaving Cuba.
Minister Paulwell was unable to give the exact date for the arrival of the next shipment. However, he told The Gleaner that as soon as the unloading process is complete, the vessel would be returning to Cuba, to transport the second shipment.
In her remarks, Cuban Ambassador, Gisela Garcia Rivera, said she was happy that the shipment had finally arrived in Jamaica. She said Cuba had no plans to export cement, but her Government decided to assist Jamaica because of the deepening crisis.
