Contractors urge govt to revise rates

MANSEHRA: The contractors in Torghar on Saturday threatened to boycott the tendering process if the government didn’t revise the scheduled rates fixed for construction in light of the record inflation in the country.

“The prices of material used in construction have jumped to an all-time-high but tendering of development projects and schemes are still being offered by the government under rates fixed in 2022,” Sarwar Gul, the president of government contractors association, told reporters in Judbah, the headquarters of Torghar district.

Flanked by office-bearers of the association, he said that the federal government had imposed numerous taxes on the construction industry and contractors in the current financial year’s budget.

“The government should immediately halt the tendering process until issuing fresh scheduled rates are determined,” Gul said.

He said that the recession and shortage of funds for such development schemes and projects under various completion stages was another setback to contractors.