A MANAGER at the Caribbean Cement Company Ltd. has resigned in the wake of the cement crisis surrounding the company.
In February, some 500 tonnes of faulty cement which had leaked on to the market was recalled, causing several projects in the construction sector to stall.
General manager at the company, Anthony Haynes, told The Gleaner yesterday that the manager was asked to resign in March. The manager is respon-sible for the quality control department at the Rockfort, East Kingston-based plant, which monitors the quality of cement the company produces.
Mr. Haynes was speaking at the Rotary Club's weekly luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.
OTHER ACTIONS COMING
He was, however, mum about what other actions were being taken against other employees who may have been responsible for the bad cement.
"Disciplining does not fix the problem; it is also very impor-tant to know the root cause ... because there were systemic issues, and deal with it also. So we have looked at it from all aspects," he added.
Haynes pointed to a number of issues that played a part in faulty cement leaking on to the market including a breakdown of quality control procedures.
"We found in our investigation that critical information that would have helped deal with this problem quicker and more effectively, was not brought to light," he said.
He also said heavy pressure from the market resulted in poor maintenance of some key equipment.
To date, one third of claims for compensation made by businesses who received faulty cement, have been settled by the company. A monetary figure has not been released.
Said Haynes: "I don't want to give you any numbers today (yesterday) ... the issue has to do with the stock exchange and shareholders information."
"What I will assure you is that Carib Cement will meet its obligations to those things and we expect to be in business," he added.
The compensation to be awarded will be announced in the directors' report which is be released next week.
Information Minister Colin said recently that Carib Cement had received some 200 claims for compensation during a weekly post-Cabinet press briefing.
