ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: The Federal government has withdrawn the condition of classification, categorisation, enlistment and evaluation of performance of the contractors enlisted with Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD), sources in the PWD said.

According to a gazette notification number F.2 (8)/99-works (vol-II) dated October 18, 2003, issued by the ministry of housing and works, all matters relating to the terms and conditions of Pak PWD contractors will be regulated under the PAK PWD contractors rule 1999, vide SRO 1368 (1)/1999 of December 23, 1999.

The notification said the enlistment and evaluation of performance rules 2002 should be considered effective from the date of their notification and registration of all contractors enlisted be validated.

Earlier, in June the government had issued an SRO linking the new criterion for the contractors who wanted to register their firms with Pak PWD. It said, “Every such firm wishing to be enlisted in category ‘A’ has to submit the list of its movable and immovable assets worth Rs10 million which should be certified by the bank.”

The contractors had also been asked to produce a list of five works carried out by the firm each worth Rs2.5 million with a minimum total turn-over of Rs20 million during the list five years. The SRO-2002, however, did not elaborate the fate of the already registered contractors before June 25, 2002.

This order had created panic among 1,250 contractors and affected the construction work all over the country besides threatening the jobs of thousands of workers working in the construction sector.

The affected contractors approached the minister for housing and works Safwanullah and secretary Jalil Abbas, who assured them that the government would address all their grievances.

The sources told Dawn that the minister directed the director-general, Pak-PWD, Brig Khalid Sohail Cheema, to immediately renew the registration of those contractors whose enlistment was cancelled. The minister also directed the DG to exempt all previous enlisted contractors from depositing the standing security and security bonds. But his order was not complied with by the bureaucracy, they added.

The sources said the minister observed that the DG had refused to implement his orders, thus he curtailed his powers regarding transfer and posting of XENs and superintending engineers from one region to other.

Finally, the minister ordered the issuance of the gazette notification on October 18, for withdrawal of SRO 404 (1) 2002 regarding the classification, categorisation, enlistment and evolution of performance of contractors enlisted with Pak PWD.

The sources said the Public Works Department contractors all over the country and thousands of workers related to this industry had taken a sigh of relief after the withdrawal of the notification.