A Portmore resident who submitted a $1.3-million claim to the Caribbean Cement Company as compensation for the use of bad cement, has rejected the company’s offer of a mere $96,000 in restitution.

Lorna Morris who said her claim was verified by a registered quantity surveyor, contended that the basis on which the final figure offered by Carib Cement was calculated had not been communicated to her.

“I did my estimate for corrective work on the instructions of a Carib Cement representative,” Morris’ quantity surveyor, Joseph DaCosta told the Observer, adding that at no time did Caribbean Cement Company raise questions about the validity of the claim.

But Lsytra Sharpe, public relations manager at the cement company, told the Observer that many of the figures received from claimants were inflated and a quantity surveyor retained by the cement company normally double-checked and adjusted these claims.

“Based on the report that we got from our concrete technologist, in this case, there was no need to break down the structure,” Sharpe said.

“The $96,000 is in respect to corrective work on the structure,” she said, adding that a part of the problem could be attributed to bad workmanship.

Morris’ story was that beginning last November, she had purchased more than 120 bags of cement at a total cost of approximately $60,000 and proceeded to do renovation on her Portmore quad with a $1.6-million loan from the Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS).

“I did not know there was a problem until a workman started to complain about the cement earlier this year,” she said.

It turned out that Trinidad-owned Carib Cement had delivered substandard material to the construction industry from its Rockfort plant. Its subsequent recall of the faulty cement led to a crisis in the construction industry, involving the massive project delays and idling of hundreds of thousands of workers.

The company promised to refund customers saying that value added would be taken into consideration when the payments were made. Anthony Haynes, Carib Cement’s general manager, at the time said that one-third of the 215 complaints received had been examined and some were found to exhibit breakdown at low strengths.

“Those will be compensated fully,” he told the Observer, explaining that the cost of the materials used by contractors would be taken into consideration.

Morris said that in March she followed the instructions of Carib Cement and submitted a claim to the company to demolish and redo the construction work at her home.

“The Cement Company sent an engineer to the house and he said that I had to demolish and redo the decking,” said Morris.

She questioned the rationale of the cement company in arriving at a $96,000 bill to repair her three-bedroom structure.

“That can’t even do one room. What about steel and electrical work. You can’t owe workmen any money,” she complained.

“I have spent much more than that and although work has stopped, I have to be still paying back a loan. What can that money do?” she asked.

Morris said she has to be residing with a friend and was uncertain when she would be able to live in the comfort of her now unfinished home.