Hike in prices of materials: Contractors in Hazara suspend work on development schemes

MANSEHRA: The contractors across Hazara division on Friday suspended the execution of the development schemes after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government didn’t increase the construction rates in accordance with the current inflation in the country.

“We have stopped execution of the over 1100 development schemes across the Hazara division as the government didn’t revise construction rates during the deadline,” Arshad Khan, the provincial vice-president, told reporters.

He said that the associations of contractors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eight districts in Hazara division had set June 30 as the deadline to the government to revise the construction rates in accordance with the inflation in the country but it was yet to accept their demand.

“We cannot execute the development schemes tendered in previous years as prices of construction materials have gone up by 120 percent,” Arshad Khan maintained.

He said that contractors from across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would soon meet to decide their future line of action.

“We have suspended the execution of the development schemes and district and provincial associations will meet shortly to evolve a joint strategy,” Khan added.

The provincial vice-president said that hundreds and thousands of labourers across the province were rendered jobless since the country witnessed the highest ever inflation over the last couple of months.