The Block and Concrete Producers Association, Enugu State chapter, has decried the continuous increase in the prices of cement and other materials used for block production.
The President, Oriental Block and Concrete Producers Association, Enugu State, Igwe Paulinus Ukaegbu, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Enugu.
Ukaegbu lamented that the continuous rise in cement price was negatively affecting the production output of and income of members of the association.
He urged the Federal Government to intervene in the situation by granting more licences to industrialists to produce cement.
While admitting that the current brands of cement were good, Ukaegbu accused the manufacturers of increasing the prices of their products without considering its effect on members of the association as well as builders.
He said, “The challenge we have is the cost of cement, and even sand. Everything is now costly.
“We are not making sales as we used to; so, we are suffering. We are praying for the government to help us by bringing down the price of cement and other materials.
“Before, one could sell 3,000 to 5,000 pieces of block in a month; but now, before you sell 1,000 pieces of block, it is very difficult.