Brava: Contractors contest sale of cement at Furna port due to increased costs
Nova Sintra, Jan 07 (Inforpress)- Contractors on the island of Brava today expressed their dissatisfaction with the way cement is being sold at the port of Furna, which is causing "major constraints" and a "significant increase" in costs.
In statements to Inforpress, contractor Napoleão de Pina said that the company supplying cement on the island "has been forcing contractors" to buy the product directly at the port, as soon as the ship arrives, justifying that the quantity unloaded does not compensate for transportation to the warehouse.
According to the same source, this practice makes the cost of purchasing "even higher", since many contractors are forced to rent vehicles and pay more expensive freight to transport the cement to their work sites.
"For those who have their own car, buying cement at the Furna warehouse or port makes no difference, but for those of us who need to rent a car, the cost is much higher. That's why we're here to show our discontent and appeal to the distribution company to sell cement at the warehouse again," he said.
Napoleão de Pina added that sometimes they pay around five thousand escudos for a single shipment between Furna and Nossa Senhora do Monte, even when the amount of cement is small.
The right thing, he continued, would be to transport the product to the warehouse, allowing everyone to buy small quantities more affordably.
In the same vein, the bricklayer Clarimundo da Lomba shared the same opinion, considering that the situation is complicated, since to buy just one bag of cement at the port of Furna, it is necessary to rent a vehicle and pay amounts starting at one thousand escudos, or more, depending on the destination.
"The distribution company has its own warehouse, so it would be fair to sell from there, as it always has, and not force the workers to buy right at the port, causing an additional cost in transportation," he said.
According to the bricklayer, this situation has been repeated frequently, which is why they decided to turn to the media to express their discontent and call for cement sales to be normalized as soon as possible.
Inforpress tried to contact the owner of the cement supply company in Brava, Dina Vicente, to comment on the matter, but the effort was unsuccessful.
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