Kathmandu, April 24 (RSS): The Federation of Contractors'
Associations of Nepal (FCAN) has announced a 'construction holiday' reasoning
the lack of an environment conducive for construction due to price increment in
construction materials.
Excessive price increment in
construction materials, some errors in the 11th amendment to the Public
Procurement Regulation and provisions in the Insurance Directives, 2078 BS
among others have made the matter worse, it said. As a result, approximately
3,500 projects have been halted in protest.
"We have announced a
construction holiday as the construction business has been at risk of
collapsing," said the FCAN President Rabi Singh, adding that as a result,
over 17,000 contractors have been on the brink of quitting their business.
Construction of around 1500 projects has continued however, he said. In
protest, sit-ins at the district administration office of all 77 districts and
the office of the Chief Minister of all seven provinces will be launched from April
26, he said.
As part of their protest, they
launched a sit-in in front of the office of the public procurement monitoring
office and the Beema Samiti on past Thursday and Friday.
They have demanded price adjustment
in construction materials, amendment of inconsistent points in the 11th
amendment to the Public Procurement Regulation, 2078 and a scrap of the
Insurance Directive, 2078.