AFTER having to wash their eating utensils almost four times a day, Kalekana residents are thankful their grievances regarding clinker dust invading their homes have been heard. A resident said water trucks had been spraying water on the roads almost every 20 minutes since Tuesday morning to prevent dust from clinker that was being transported from the wharf to the Pacific Cement Ltd (PCL) factory spreading to homes.
The resident said although clinker dust still found its way to their homes, it was now much less compared with Monday morning.
“Since last week I woke up to find all our dishes covered in clinker. It is really frustrating that for breakfast I have to wash our dishes, then for lunch and also dinner,” the resident said.
“But soon after your newspaper visited us, water trucks have been going up and down this road spraying water to stop clinker dust from coming to our houses.”
Another resident claimed he had to take his car to the automotive shop to try and remove clinker dust that made permanent marks on it.
PCL confirmed the clinker belonged to the company but the transportation of the product was the responsibility of its contractor Williams and Gosling Ltd.
When contacted, Williams and Gosling Ltd said it had hired a sub contractor — M.Y Transport — to transport the clinker from the wharf to their factory.
M.Y Transport chief executive officer Aiyub Mohammed claimed it wasn’t clinker that was invading the residents’ homes but dust.
This newspaper understands that a team from the Department of Environment had visited the area.
Environment Minister Parveen Kumar said he had yet to receive a report on the issue.
