Greater Jakarta area faced with cement shortage

JAKARTA (JP): Prices of cement in building materials stores across the Jakarta greater area remained high as of Saturday due to continued shortages.

Many building material dealers in the greater Jakarta area, comprising the capital, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, sold cement at Rp 7,000 ( US$3.23) to Rp 7,250 per sack, between Rp 250 and Rp 500 higher than the ceiling prices regulated in a Jakarta gubernatorial decree.

The Jakarta Post team of reporters observed that building material retail outlets in West, Central, East and South Jakarta and Depok, south of Jakarta, were rationing cement at a limit of five sacks per buyer due to a stock shortage. One sack contains 40 kilograms.

Lutfi, the owner of the Ah Alkatiri building materials store in Salemba Tengah, Central Jakarta, said that he was limiting sales to only five sacks of cement per buyer at maximum because he was afraid he could not replenish his stocks.

"Now we cannot buy cement in large amounts from wholesalers as we did before. This condition has been going on for two weeks," Lufti said. In the past he could get hundreds of sacks of cement from wholesalers without constraint.

Armen, a cement seller in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, said that he is also having difficulty purchasing cement in large amounts at short notice as he did in the past.

"Last month it took only three days to purchase cement from the wholesaler, but now we have to wait for three weeks," Armen said.

Cement sellers in Mampang Prapatan even said they stopped selling because they had run out of supplies.

The owner of a building materials store in West Jakarta said that he heard rumors that wholesalers had deliberately limited their sales because there was an acute shortage of cement throughout the country.

"We are waiting for imported cement," he said.

Despite the shortage of supplies, the Post observed only a slight increase in the retail prices of cement in most building material stores. Most stores observed sold cement around Rp 7,000 per sack.

Ali Achmad Jessar, the owner of the Usaha Jaya building materials store in Salemba Tengah, Central Jakarta, said that he had to increase the retail price of cement because the wholesalers had raised the price to Rp 6,750 per sack.

Jakarta Gubernatorial Decree No.364, issued in February, sets the ceiling price at Rp 6,750 per sack for Cibinong and Tiga Roda cement at the retail level. As of Saturday, the decree, which was valid until June 1994, had not been renewed.

Meanwhile, Gandi Pakpahan, a contractor in South Jakarta, has urged the government to issue new reference prices for building materials, including cement, for the period of July to October as soon as possible.

"If the government does not decide new ceiling prices for the items, we have no choice but to look for a shortcut to accomplish our projects by reducing the quality. Otherwise we will go bankrupt," Pakpahan said. (als/icn/jsk)