WITH THE island's construction industry grinding to a virtual standstill and an estimated 30,000 plus workers temporarily laid off, the sector and by extension the country is sinking deeper into a scandalous crisis.
The impact of the breakdown in quality control at the Caribbean Cement Company resulting in the release of bad cement to the public will reverberate for months to come.
The financial losses already incurred because of the shutdown of major public and private projects have implications for the national budget as well as for firms which provide related services for the construction sector.
Indications are that even the time frame within which families are able to accord a decent funeral to their deceased relatives is being adversely affected because they can't get cement to make vaults.
In the meantime, the slow trickle of information from the company and the Government is doing precious little to give the public any guidance as to what to expect next and how they may plan for the immediate future.
People need assurance about the quality of cement already purchased and how soon they can get their projects going again. We accept that a proper investigation is needed to determine what went wrong at the CCC, but the pace at which the probe is going and the inadequate information leave a lot to be desired.
If it is taking the investigators this long to determine what went wrong, what confidence can the public have that they have got to the bottom of the problem and it won't happen again?
The Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr. Phillip Paulwell, has pointed to the challenges of trying to import supplies - there is a heavy demand for the product on the world market and a correspondent shortage.
So even if the Government were to further relax the importation regulations, the local construction sector would still be hobbled by the time-lag and inadequate amount of material.
This crisis demands a greater sense of urgency from the Government than appears to have taken place to date.
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