HARIPUR, Nov 22: Contractors registered with the works and services department will boycott new tenders if existing rate schedule is not revised on the basis of current prices of construction material.

The boycott threat was issued by Tahir-ur-Rehman Khan, president, Government Contractors Association Haripur, while talking to journalists here on Tuesday.

The contractors had boycotted tenders for two months and had resumed bidding only when the provincial government announced an increase in rates in August.

Accompanied by other members of the association, Mr Khan said that the government was paying the contractors at rates fixed in 1,999 but prices of construction material, he claimed, had increased by almost 200 per cent since then.

In 1999, iron was sold at Rs18,000 per ton, cement at Rs180 per bag and bricks at Rs800 per 1,000 whereas a labourer charged Rs80 a day and mason Rs120 a day, he said and added that the rates of the material and services had increased by 200 per cent since then.

Referring the modus operandi employed by the Punjab government, he said that the NWFP government should follow the quarterly revision of the rates according to the market rates.

Answering a question, he said that although the NWFP government had increased the rates for building contracts by 42 per cent and for road projects by 38 per cent but the enhanced rates were not commensurate with the market rates.

He warned that the contractors would boycott the government tenders, which were to be floated next month, unless the rates were enhanced according to the market trends.