Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

[Tuff Gong]

Sun Apr 16, 2006
Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe
Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

The management of Caribbean Cement Company is moving to reassure its shareholders and potential investors in the wake of concerns about the likely consequences of its recent product recall.
The concerns regarding the company's position stem from fears that Caribbean Cement Company may be saddled with multi-million dollar claims resulting from the recent release of several batches of inferior cement from its Rockfort Plant.

Days after the company acknowledged that there was a quality control problem, several stakeholders in the local building industry, including the Incorporated Master Builders Association, gave notice that they would be submitting claims for compensation.

The stakeholders asserted that they had to demolish structures which were built with the faulty cement.

But in a statement released to the major newspapers, the management of Caribbean Cement Company says it is working to settle most of the claims by the end of this month.

The company says based on the number of claims and the figures stated in the claims received so far, it does not expect the final cost of the compensation to impact significantly on its net worth.

After suspending the distribution of cement for nearly one week, the company resumed normal operations just over two weeks ago.

[sophiadieheart]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

Thank GOd, and the Patriotic jamaicans who forced them into the light. God Rest the Dead, the work was not in Vain. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Q3210]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

Can we trust what the cement co. says as being honest and truthful?

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

[ QUOTE ]
Can we trust what the cement co. says as being honest and truthful?

[/ QUOTE ]

No!

[Q3210]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

there you have it...a statement by Tuff that says it all.....N-O as in No.

[sophiadieheart]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

Not at all.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe


Mon May 1, 2006
Carib Cement compensation worries

The Incorporated Master Builders Association says it is disappointed with the manner in which Caribbean Cement Company is dealing with the issue of compensation to persons affected by the recent faulty cement problem.
According to the association's President, Michael Archer, the Cement Company has not been providing timely information on how affected persons will be compensated.

Carib Cement's management says it is prepared to offer full compensation, where appropriate, to persons affected by the release of sub-standard product.
Carib Cement compensation worries

Mon May 1, 2006
Promised cement from Cuba fails to show

Twenty thousand tonnes of cement scheduled to arrive from Cuba last week have not yet arrived.
This was revealed by Information Minister Colin Campbell at the weekly post Cabinet press briefing Monday afternoon.

According to the minister, it is not yet known when the shipment will arrive.

This disclosure follows concern expressed by the Incorporated Master Builders Association.

The association's President, Michael Archer, told RJR News that members are disappointed with the manner in which Caribbean Cement Company is dealing with the issue of compensation to persons affected by the recent faulty cement problem.

He said the Cement Company has not been providing timely information on how affected persons will be compensated.

Carib Cement's management says it is prepared to offer full compensation, where appropriate, to persons affected by the release of sub-standard product.

Promised cement from Cuba fails to show

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe


Tue May 2, 2006
Inferior cement still on the market?

Tuesday Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, raised questions about the fate of the substandard cement recalled by manufacturers of the Cement Company of Jamaica.
Mr. Shaw called on the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Commerce to clarify the issue of whether sub-standard cement is still being sold in the trade.

He also demanded that the Finance Minister provide the country with information as to whether the promised shipment from Cuba will ever reach Jamaican shores.

Inferior cement still on the market?

[conscience]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

Well Ambassador King brought it this far, Jamaican people needs to take it the rest of the way. Don't just take a promise, force them to pay. The companies should start suing, and the courts need to start fining. What!!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

[ QUOTE ]
Can we trust what the cement co. says as being honest and truthful?

[/ QUOTE ]

You be the judge!

Carib cement in legal worries

The island’s sole producer of cement could face prosecution for breaching the Standards Act.
Attorney-at-law Arthur Kitchen has been retained by the Bureau of Standards to prosecute the Caribbean Cement Company for the alleged illegal removal of seals on a silo containing 17,000 tones of bad cement.

The construction industry is still reeling from a shortage of cement, after CCL was forced to recall 500,000 tonnes the product in March due to breakdown in its systems which led to the production of substandard cement.

Meanwhile, the company continues to blend bad cement in order to meet market demand which has outstripped supplies.

Last Wednesday was the deadline for the company to provide the Bureau of Standards with reasons why the company should not be taken to court after the breach was detected on Monday.

However, executive director of the Bureau, Dr Omer Thomas, said up to Friday night there was no response, hence he was going ahead with the prosecution. Carib Cement has, in a release denied responsibility for the removal of the seals.

If convicted, the company could be fined $500,000. Seals which were placed on silos containing the bad product by the Bureau in breach of the Standards Act.

But the company has sought to distance itself from suggestions that it was responsible for breaking the seals.

In a release the company noted that the company did not authorise the breaking of the Bureau of Standards’ (BSJ) seal placed on one of four silos containing quarantined cement. The company contends that records are available to show that the cement level in the silo in question had not changed or been tampered with. The BSJ seals on the other silos were still intact along with the padlocks on all four silos fitted by Carib Cement weeks before the Bureau placed its seals, the release said.

Carib Cement asserts that the company wrote to the BSJ on Tuesday, May 2, acknowledging that the seal was found broken and informing the Bureau that an investigation was being launched into the matter.

The Bureau was further advised that no cement was removed from Silo #1 and that additional security measures were being put in place to secure the seals on the remaining silos 2, 5, and 7.
The seal was discovered broken on April 28, when the company was about to commence the reworking or reprocessing of the quarantined cement as agreed with the BSJ and consistent with international practices.

“Having finally agreed on the procedures to deal with the quarantined cement after a delay of two months, it could not be in the interest of Carib Cement to do anything to go against the regulations of the Bureau and the law, and to further delay badly needed cement supplies for the market,” the release said.

In the meantime, the Hardware Merchants Association (HMA) is demanding clarity from the government on a number of issues relating to the ongoing problem with supplies of cement.

Chairman of the association, Errol Salkey, he said the situation was threatening to drive some of the merchants out of business. Mr. Salkey said despite numerous promises, including about cement from Cuba, the hardware merchants are not getting bag cement, only bulk cement is available when, in fact, it is bag cement that the merchants need.

Among the other big concerns of the association’s membership, he said, was the issue of compensation for persons who had bought and used the bad cement. The merchants are seeking a clear position form the government on allegations that the cement company has combined faulty cement with the good product to be put to the market.

Carib cement in legal worries

[Jamaicamiss]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe

Received word yesterday that cement has been spotted on trucks in Negril. It disappeared from there weeks ago, so this is a good sign as long as it's not the defective bags. The lack of cement stopped my friend from doing construction work on his home, but he thinks he can resume this weekend.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe


Thu May 11, 2006
Cement crisis affects H&L's profits

The protracted cement crisis has had a major impact on the financial performance of Hardware and Lumber Limited.
The company's net profit for the quarter ended March 31 totalled 3 million dollars compared to 23 million for the comparative period in 2005.

Hardware and Lumber says the impact of the cement shortage has been tremendous, with the direct effect on sales of construction and related material and the indirect effect on the disposable income of consumers due to layoffs in the sector.

The company says it expects the situation to be alleviated next month with the importation of cement.

In the meantime, a four member delegation is to visit Cuba Thursday to finalise arrangements for the shipment of 64,000 tonnes of cement to deal with the cement shortage in Jamaica.

The delegation will be led by the Chief Technical Director in the Ministry of Development, Dennis Morrison and include representatives of the Caribbean Cement Company.

8,000 tonnes is expected to arrive during the course of this month, while another 16,000 tonnes is expected between next month and July.

It's reported that Jamaica is experiencing problems securing an appropriate boat for the shipment of cement.

Cement crisis affects H&L's profits

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe


Nero fiddling while Rome burns

Thursday, May 18, 2006

One would think that this government, accustomed as it is to crisis management, would know by now how to handle crises like the one now caused by the shortage of cement. We have had more than enough notice that this one was coming.

It started with the belated discovery that the Caribbean Cement Company had unknowingly distributed bad cement to the market, and we still have not yet been properly informed as to how this happened and assured that adequate measures are now in place to ensure this does not occur again.

In the meantime, the cement fallout has resulted in, among other things, the crumbling of at least one building, withdrawal of the bad cement, shortage of cement and consequent delays in construction projects.

The crisis has since got worse because, with the delays, construction-related businesses such as the hardware trade, are finding that non-cement products are also severely affected. That is understandable. If construction is at a standstill, why would anyone wish to continue buying material in any sizeable quantity?

A further consequence is that construction jobs are being idled and lay-offs have started.

Now that it is clear to even the blind that we are in this severe bind, Phillip Paulwell, the industry and commerce minister, Colin Campbell, the information and development minister, and the rest of that sorry lot are scurrying to find a solution. They have now waived all duties for three months on importaton of cement, hoping - again - that the private sector will rush in.

Let us hope that what happened when loads and loads of zinc came in after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and flooded the market for long after, does not happen in this case.

But the point is that all the government does, in effect, is wait for someone else, even if it is the private sector, to act. And whatever it is doing is well nigh after the horse has gone through the gate.

First of all, the government appeared to have been satisified that all it had to do, in March, was to drop the duty on cement importation from 40 per cent to 15 per cent, and hope that private importers would rush in to fill the gap. As it turns out, that did not happen. But the administration had by then gone to sleep.

Then when the construction trade began to make noise, the government awoke from its slumber and turned to Cuba to import a portion of the shortfall. But we are, even up to this point, not sure that the Cuban cement will be here in June, as Paulwell promises. Up to yesterday, the necessary contract was awaiting the approval of the solicitor-general, according to Mr Campbell. This is preposterous.

Is the solicitor-general aware of the crisis? Is the solicitor-general even on this planet? We would not like to think that the solicitor-general is being used as a scapegoat. This is a clear case that Nero is fiddling while Rome burns. In countries where there is even a modicum of accountability, heads would have started to roll.

But then we know that this is Jamaica and accountability is not in our government lexicon.

As a country we deserve better. People who are hired to operate the government must do what they were elected or are being paid to do. We lumber from crisis to crisis, as if the government were a bunch of volunteers doing the rest of us a favour.

If it is more of this that we will have to look to from the Portia Simpson Miller administration, then God help us.

Nero fiddling while Rome burns

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Carib Cement tries to prevent further catastrophe


Damage already done, Mrs Simpson Miller

Sunday, May 21, 2006

The intervention of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in the cement catastrophe, we believe, is an early indication of poor crisis management by her government and her personally.

With her ascension to the top chair of power in the land, Mrs Simpson Miller got her golden opportunity to stamp her authority on government and the party she leads. Instead, she has mishandled the first real challenge of her tenure - the cement crisis - and despite her decision on Friday to remove the tariff on the importation of this vital product for one year, it seems the horse has already bolted, never to be caught again.

The government, through a recalcitrant minister of industry, Mr Phillip Paulwell, and a rather preppy and officious minister of development Colin Campbell, has flip-flopped through the cement crisis at the expense of the country.

The price already paid by contractors, hardware merchants, workers and numerous others will be difficult to quantify. But whatever the figure proffered, it will be disastrous.
All this while Mr Paulwell, who has embarrassed the government in the past, sticks almost slavishly to his stated desire of protecting the cement company and its monopoly position.

Mrs Simpson Miller, after almost 35 years in politics and nearly 17 years in government, should know by now that while the country can ill afford the losses sustained by the prolonged shortage of cement, it is political suicide to keep in positions of power those who are non-performers and who are seemingly unwilling to place the agenda of the country before their own.

It is well known that both Mr Paulwell and Mr Campbell were strong supporters of the prime minister during the recent contest for the leadership of the People's National Party. The fact that Mr Campbell returned from the cold to a ministerial post and the Cabinet, and Mr Paulwell's ministry was embellished with added responsibilities does not make them untouchables.

They have both mismanaged the cement crisis by their utterances, in the case of Mr Campbell, who is also the information minister, and in the case of Mr Paulwell, a lack of will to make the right decisions, even when stakeholders within the construction industry and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party forcefully placed them in the public domain.

Mrs Simpson Miller knows very well that carrying around political baggage in any shape or form will hurt her and her party in the future. She also knows that the politics of this country has made a significant shift towards openness and accountability, two of the concepts she has embraced since assuming her high office.

We do not expect her to simply reward persons for loyalty.
Indeed, we are happy that Mrs Simpson Miller finally stepped up to the plate and acted in a decisive manner by removing the tariff, albeit a little too late.

She now needs to clean house and signal her intentions to the people of this country as to exactly what kind of leader she proposes to be. Yes, we already know she embraces the Almighty and we have no problems with that, but we believe that Mr Paulwell should do the honourable thing and resign. If he doesn't, he should be cashiered.
Don't play around with the lives of the Jamaican people, Mrs Simpson Miller, act now.

Damage already done, Mrs Simpson Miller

[Tuff Gong]

Cement Rage Kills Man ...

CEMENT RAGE KILLS MAN...Dies after his order could not be met

BY BYRON MCDANIEL, STAR Writer

WALDERSTON

A RETIRED POLICE inspector collapsed and died on Monday after he learnt that his order for cement could not be met.

Lloyd Bennett, 68, a Justice of the Peace and proprieter of a hardware store in Bellfield, Manchester died after suffering a massive heart attack en route to collect his order.

Reports are that Bennett, who was on one of his almost daily visits to seek scarce cement at Island Hardware along the Winston Jones Highway in Mandeville, got in a rage and collapsed when he was informed that the cement was not available.


HEART ATTACK

A post mortem examination on the deceased at the Lyn's Funeral Home later revealed that he had suffered a massive heart attack.

"His wife who is a retired teacher residing in the United States underwent a major operation abroad on the same day before she was informed of Lloyd's death", said a family member.

Former Inspector Bennett who originally hailed from St. Catherine served at several police stations in the parish as a respected motor cycle traffic cop. Persons who knew him well says that Mr. Bennett was a good, kind man

CEMENT RAGE KILLS MAN...Dies after his order could not be met