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PESHAWAR, March 24: The government contractors in Lower Dir have warned to stop work on the ongoing uplift projects if the authorities fail to review the recent increase in petrol and diesel prices.
Addressing a press conference in Timergara on Monday the Contractors Association Dir president Bahadar Zeb said that due to the hike in the cost of building material it would be impossible for the government contractors to complete the under-construction projects.
He said that the contractors had been playing a pivotal role in the development process and such losses would affect their quality of work. He was of the view that the increased rates of steel, cement and gravel had been affecting their cost of work badly while the twice increase in the POL prices would compel them to abandon the projects.
They gave 15-day deadline to the government to revise the rate list and demanded of the government to announce a new list. They further said that steel bar prices soared to an all time high during the past few days while cement prices also continued to show an upward trend. They also criticised the increase in the price of 50kg cement bag from Rs260 to Rs275.
CONTRACTORS ON STRIKE: To press for their demands for increase in the scheduled rates of construction work, the government contractors have announced to go on strike from Monday. This was stated by Government Contractors Association Haripur president Tahirur Rehman while talking to newsmen here.
He said that the market rates of construction material had registered an upward trend but the Works and Services department had, despite repeated requests, not increased the schedule rates of construction work.
Tahirur Rehman said that the rates of iron bars per ton had increased to Rs70,000, while the scheduled rate given by the department was Rs42,000. Likewise, the rates of bricks, cement and labour cost had also increased due to which the contractors were exposed to financial losses.
To a question, he said that the department had given about 75per cent increase on the scheduled rates during the last year adding that it doesn’t commensurate with the market rates. Tahirur Rehman said that the contractors would suspend construction work from Monday and would not participate in the tendering process of new schemes unless the scheduled rates were increased in accordance with the market prices.
