KARACHI, July 15: The Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) has demanded of the government to ban cement export and force the manufacturers to first meet country’s requirements.

Abad’s acting chairman Salim Zaki and former chairman Hafeez ur Rahman Butt said at a press conference on Tuesday that the cement bag was now priced at Rs380-400 as compared to Rs200-220 in February 2008.

They said if the ban on export was not possible, the government should allow import of cement which would result in an immediate decline of Rs100 per 50 kg bag as it had been done in February 2007.

The Abad officials said that cement makers were sending bulk shipments to foreign countries thus creating supply imbalance in the local market.

They said that the there should have been an increase of Rs10-15 in price of 50 kg bag after the rate of sales tax was increased from 15 per cent to 16 per cent coupled with the rise in federal excise duty from Rs750 to Rs900 per ton in the budget 2008-2009. However, the price had been jacked up by Rs100 per bag in the past one month and government was yet to check the trend, they added.

Under the current circumstances, Hafiz Butt said that many builders and developers had transferred their business to foreign countries where they were making heavy investments in property in an environment conducive for business.