No cement shortage says local supplier

The sole supplier of cement in Brunei Darussalam, Butra Heidelbergcement Sdn Bhd, insists that there is no shortage of cement in the country. Ardi Wijaya, the General Manager of Butra Heidelbergcement, told local news Borneo Bulletin that the company has increased production of cement to match the current demand. It now supplies 1200t of cement to consumers a day, about 36,000 tonnes a month. Last year, the company supplied 20,000t of cement a month. However, the general manager admits that there has been an `abnormal’ demand for cement lately. He also said that the company has introduced a quota system for its customers since the beginning of January.

Complaints from building contractors who said that suppliers were only giving them one-tenth of the amount of cement they had requested have also been noted. "We asked for 10t of cement but were only given one tonne when we asked for 20t, we were given two tonnes," the contactors claimed.