Musa silent as Sabah suffers cement shortage

KOTA KINABALU: A serious shortage of cement has hit Sabah again and contractors in the state want answers from Chief Minister Musa Aman’s administration which, incidentally, has a stake in the industry through a monopoly company.

But four weeks into the shortage, there’s not even a whimper from the state government, despite cries for help from consumers and developers.

Sabah, which relies mostly on Peninsular Malaysia and China for its cement supply, had previously also experienced a similar shortage which saw price of cement spiral and developers crippled by losses.

The situation is the same today. A standrad-sized bag of cement which used to sell for RM17.60 is now going for as high as RM22 on a first-come-first-served basis.

A random check by FMT in various places in Sabah showed most suppliers are charging similar rates.

Hardware shopowners and contractors are grappling with the shortage which has caused long delays in the construction industry.

One hardware operator in Kepayan, near here, told FMT that his shop had been out of cement supplies for most of the past one month.

“My clients are complaining. But this shortage is beyond our control; we could not get supplies…

“I am out of stock for some time now and I am not even sure when is my next supply coming in,” he said, adding that his last few bags of cement were sold at RM20 per bag, up from the normal RM17.60.

Overpriced cement

FMT checks on other stores in neighbouring Tuaran also found traders in a similar predicament.

One trader, known only as Lim, said he had many buyers willing to pay RM20 per bag.

“Tapi mana ada supply? Ini masalah,” (but there is no supply, this is a problem),” he said, pointing to an empty corner at his shop which was once stacked up with cement bags.

In Kota Belud, FMT met with similar reactions from hardware shops. But here the price per bag was even higher at RM22.

“Orang mau beli RM22 pun saya tiada stok. Dua tiga hari lepas ada 20 ‘kampit’ saja datang, semua sudah kena ambil, orang sanggup bayar RM22. Ini banyak susah, orang mau bikin rumah pun komplen,” said one towkay. (People are willing to pay RM22 but I don’t have stock. Two or three days ago, there were 20 bags but all were sold out. This is very difficult. People who are building houses are also complaining.)

Fearful of being fined for overpricing the cement bags, he insisted that he was selling the standard bags at the fixed rate of RM17.60 and that it was the desperate customers who willingly paid the higher price.

A buyer met at the towkay’s store, known only as Jeffryson, said his boss had been sending him to the town regularly to look for cement.

“But there is no supply. It has been 10 days already. Even if the shops have 10 bags, they would be snapped up by others by the time I arrived… so I have no chance,” he said.

Government must explain

Meanwhile, the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers president, Wong Khen Thau, told FMT that he had been assured by the authorities last week that cement supply will be back to normal this week.

He said that Sabah got its supply from various countries like China and Indonesia.

“I am told that supply could not meet demand because of shipment delay in various ports…

“Due to this problem, property developers are mooting the idea that the state government issue another licence to produce cement locally,” he said, adding that the sole manufacturer now is state-owned CIS (Cement Industries Sabah Sd Bhd).

The CIS and the state government are under pressure from the public to explain why Sabah is hit with a cement shortage again.

In the past, there have been similar cases of shortage, causing delay and losses to property developers and infrastructures contractors in the state.

The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association on Monday also appealed to the state government to look into the shortage, which had caused delays and losses in the various sectors, especially in the property sector.