Thiruvananthapuram: The government will increase cement production in the public sector business as an action to bring down the price of construction materials in the state, industry and law minister P said Rajeeve on Rednesby.
Responding to the movement of call attention by Sunny Joseph MLA, the minister said the country only produced 10% of the cement needed here and 90% of the country’s cement market was controlled by private companies outside the country.
“Malabar Cement, PSU, is producing and selling cement with a lower rate compared to other private players.
The government has taken steps to increase production in Malabar cement and intervene in price increases,” he said.
Increased production of white cement, putty walls and gray cement have been included in the master plan for travancore cement, other PSU too.
The minister said the government will also establish a ‘raw material bank’ under the micro-small and medium clusters (MSMEs) to limit the increase in raw material prices.
He said lack of building materials and the need to overcome the increase in the increase in the price of building materials had reached the government’s notification and that the main reason that worsened the situation was a pandemic.
The increase in raw material prices has pushed the price of materials used for construction, including cement, iron, PVC pipes, M-Sand, P-sand, etc.
The increase in prices of petroleum products and coal shortages is also added to the problem.
In addition, the allegations of cement transportation from other countries also resulted in price increases, said Minister.
He said the government had held stakeholder meetings to overcome price increases, asking them to reduce prices to affordable levels.
The government has given relaxation to the excavation sector also to plug in the crisis, the Minister said.