Tiang (third left) stresses a point during the dialogue session.
KUCHING (Dec 19): Deputy Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Michael Tiang has pledged to look into the shortage of cement supply issue currently faced by contractors here.
He pointed out that due to the shortage, ensuing problems faced by many contractors included projects that had to be halted and delayed.
“In some cases, this carried serious implications on the imposition of penalty by their respective employers and the shortages of the cement supply and the stones of late have hampered the progress of housing development projects.
“And in consequence thereof, some developers are having severe cash-flow problems,” he said at a recent dialogue cum luncheon held between Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak (Acccis), Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) and Sarawak Master Builders Federation (SMBF) with representatives from CMS Cement Industry Sdn Bhd.
The dialogue session was held in view of the shortage of cement supply in southern Sarawak, particularly Kuching.
Tiang said he was happy to be able to host the luncheon with representatives from the three main business organisations to discuss the pressing concerns of the cement supply shortage with CMS Cement Industry.
“It is a good opportunity for me to listen and gather feedback from the stakeholders directly while also having a better understanding on what has been happening on the ground,” he said.
He hoped to see the supply chain of these major building materials return to normalcy soon.
Those present had a frank and cordial discussion on the problems and issues encountered by the construction and properties development sectors while CMS Cement Industry head of Commercial JT Choong gave an informative update on the latest development on the cement supply.
Other issues such as excessive queuing time incurred for accepting the delivery of the cement at the depot of the supplier and the looming revision of the pricing of cement by the wholesaler were also among the issues discussed during the dialogue session.
Among those present were Acccis secretary general Dato Jonathan Chai, Sheda president Augustine Wong, Sheda secretary general Angie Kueh, SMBF chairman James Ha, SMBF secretary general Tan Chen Sin as well as CMS Cement Industry representatives Sofrizan Osman and Sahil Dev.