‘Chinese hogging construction sector not good’
PRESIDENT OF the Incorporated Masterbuiders Association Humphrey Taylor says that the construction industry is in a state of illhealth because of the Chinese hogging the industry.
He said that too many of the big jobs have gone the way of the Chinese and that the practice is now reflecting badly on local construction stakeholders, who have been left out in the cold, with major projects in the pipeline.
“As an industry, we are not all that healthy because most of the big jobs are done by the Chinese,” Taylor said.
In response, he said that the association would be pressing for changes at the policy level as its members are demanding parity with their Chinese counterparts if they are to remain relevant in the discourse around national development.
“We understand the situation, but we are not giving up, and we are lobbying to get some policy changes from the Government so we can be part of the economic growth that we all wish for,” Taylor noted.
A SIGNIFICANT decline in sales has forced Hardrock Concrete Mix, a Spanish Townbased manufacturer of premixed concrete, to shutter its operation even though there is strong demand for the construction material.
“I haven’t sold any concrete since January, so we just close it. I just tell the people we no longer doing it,” director Nigel Bloomfield told The Gleaner on Wednesday. He was responding to questions about a press advertisement published on Monday which bluntly stated: “Hardrock Concrete Mix has been closed and is no longer trading effective June 13, 2017.”
“The demand is there, the big competition is there and you not getting the price,” he added.
FLEET REDUCTION
Owned and operated by Supreme Block Factory Company at 56 Job Lane in the St Catherine, the company’s trucks were reduced to four from six as a result of traffic crashes but worker apathy was also a major factor in the company’s declining fortunes.
“They weren’t taking care of the equipment, so the equipment them run down.
A demand is there, a big demand, but other problem is that even though the demand is there, the pricing is not there and the drivers weren’t really taking care of the trucks any at all, and we weren’t really getting the price,” Bloomfield added.
A Gleaner check of the Yellow Pages found seven manufactures of pre-mixed concrete with Jamaica Pre-mix Concrete Limited (Pre-mix) having the greatest reach — two branches in western Jamaica, another two in central Jamaica, in addition to the its Corporate Area head office.