A consignment of 100,000 bags of cement which arrived at the Colombo Port could not be released to the local market due to some bureaucratic hassle in obtaining the SLS certification," National Cooperative Council's chairman Bandu Ranawaka said.
He said that the cement consignment had been imported by the National Cooperative Council to alleviate an existing cement shortage in the country. But officials who are supposed to issue SLS certification have dragged their feet.
He said that cement under the brand "Co-op cement" imported from Pakistan was distributed to the market by the National Cooperative Council at a concessionary rate of Rs 635 per 50kg bag.
"We have been awaiting SLS certification for the last six months, but the SLS certification was not granted by the relevant authorities.
"But one of the private companies that imported cement from the same company in Pakistan had received its SLS certification.
So it is open to question whether some private elements were conspiring with certain parties to create an artificial cement shortage," he said.
Ranawaka further said if the available cement was released to the market, it will end the current cement shortage in the country.
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