KARACHI: Arif Yousuf Jeewa, Chairman Association of Builders and Developers (Abad), has said steel traders have raised the price of steel bars by Rs5,000 per tonne.

He said many dealers have stopped selling steel bars, thus creating an artificial shortage in order to further increase the prices.

A week back, quality steel bars were selling at Rs83,000-84,000 per tonne. He urged the government to control rates of steel bars as dealers have unjustifiably raised rates of steel bars after a sudden rise in dollar against Pakistani rupee.

Abad chief said that high rate and unavailability of steel bars would affect many ongoing projects, rendering builders to stop work.

He recalled that recently steel importers and dealers had raised steel bar prices after imposition of regulatory duty and now they have raised the rate in the name of rising dollar arbitrarily, which is illegal. He urged the government should take stern action against profiteers.

He said rise in steel bar prices would push up construction cost, making housing out of reach for low-income groups.

Quoting the World Bank and State Bank of Pakistan reports, he said Pakistan is facing shortage of 12m housing units and 0.3m housing units are being added to this shortfall every year.

The country’s economy would face a hard time if the government would not take corrective measures for the promotion of construction sector, he added.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2017