ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: All Pakistan Contractors Association (APCA) has proposed a range of measures, including a ban on export to Afghanistan and the Middle East for bringing down the cement price to affordable level.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday Chairman APCA Engineer Ahmad Ghazal Usmani said there was a lurking danger that in case the government did not take immediate steps to bring down the cement price to a desirable level, the price of cement in the coming month will rise from Rs400 per bag to Rs500.

He said the cartelisation in cement industry was a national tragedy and it is an intrigue, which may result in the closure of all small and mega projects. At present, the installed capacity of the cement factories is 3.2 million tons per year, whereas the consumption of cement in Pakistan is far less.

Mr Usmani said there had been no increase in the prices of raw material of cement such as lime, electricity, gas, carriage, taxes, duties etc. In these circumstances there is absolutely no justification for the increase in the prices of cement as well as shortage in its supply, he added.

The association chairman warned that in case the price of cement did not register a decrease to Rs180 to Rs200 per bag within 15 days, it would be difficult for the contractors to continue work on small and mega projects.

He said obviously the work on all projects will stop, which will not be a good omen for the country because the closure of the projects will result in unemployment, which may create lot of social problems.

While proposing measures to break the cartel of owners of the cement factories, the chairman assured that whosoever will deviate from the cartel and sell cement at reasonable price, the contractors will purchase cement from his factory.

He said the export of cement to Afghanistan and the Middle East might be banned and the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) be allowed to import cement on war-footings from other countries.

The chairman demanded of the government to allow import of cement from India and Iran without duty and taxes via land routes. All taxes and duty on the import of cement may be withdrawn.