CAA warns public of inferior quality cement

Saturday, 29 August 2015 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Following several complaints received by the industry and general public, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has issued a warning over the inferior quality cement that has allegedly been released to the local market.

In a statement the CAA said that it had received several complaints that stocks of cement that were not on par with the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLS) had been released to the local market.

According to sources within the CAA, they had identified that the low quality cement had been released to the market by a small fraction of importers, stockholders, distributors and packaging institutions.

Despite the complaints received by the authority, they still failed to find solid evidence on where these activities were being carried out. Due to this fact, the CAA requested the general public to be on the alert and inform the authority about related activities on 0771088919.

“We have not received any complaints with proof so far to conduct investigations into this matter,” a senior official told the Daily FT.

The CAA has thus far sent four samples to the SLS. “The testing of these samples is time consuming and very costly. However, the authority has sent samples to the SLS to conduct chemical and physical tests.”

Furthermore, the source said that it would be dangerous to use this kind of cement for any construction. Buildings constructed with the inferior quality cement are far from strong and are at risk of gradually coming apart.

There are different types of cement to be used in the construction industry but unfortunately only a very few people are aware of this.

“One could imagine what would happen if this cement is used for schools and hospitals. Therefore, the general public should either be educated or seek industry expert advice from engineers,” the senior official added.