Contractors threaten bidding boycott

All Pakistan Contractors Association (APCA) NWFP gave a deadline of August 31st to the provincial government for implementation of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) prepared standard bidding documents at all four tiers of the governments in the country.
The contractors gave the ultimatum at a provincial convention attended by contractors from all districts, Fata and Northern Areas (NAs) of Pakistan. Central chairman, APCA, Shahid Rafiq and chairman Contractors Confederation of Punjab, Abdul Hafeez Chaudhry and vice chairman Sindh, Abdul Karim Khadim attended.
The convention warned the provincial NWFP government not only boycotting of participation in tenders, but would also go on halting construction work on all developmental schemes in the province. The convention also requested the Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti for the approval of a summary sent by the Chief Engineer, Department of Communication and Works.
Addressing the convention, chairman, APCA NWFP, Ghulam Habib highlighted the problems being faced by the industry in the province and instead of 0.03 percent tender form fee, he called for its fixation at Rs 5000 or Rs 10000 and making assurance of the availability of the 50 percent fund of the tender before its release.
Ghulam Habib said that on completion of the project the preparation of the PC-4 is the responsibility of the department; therefore it should fulfil its own duty.
In case of the failure in implementation of the agreement, he called for increasing the time period of the contractor and payment of price variation with each bill and payment of ex-gratia in proportion to the price hike on construction works.
Similarly, he also called for taking action against all those officers who are creating hurdles in the completion of the development schemes.
The chairman of the APCA NWFP also demanded the payment of compensation to contractors in case of delay in the payment and abolition of corruption in garb of the performance guarantee and bringing an end to the blackmailing in the name of pre-qualification even after the renewal of the contractors'' licenses.
"The contractors carrying work in mountainous areas should be paid additional premium and their representative should also nominated on the price control and crime control committees," demanded Ghulam Habib adding that tender should be accepted or cancelled on passage of 30 days of the opening of the tenders.
He called for the establishment of the office of All Pakistan Contractors Association (APCA) at district level and demanded of the Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti to accept the demands of the contractors to prevent the deprivation of NWFP from the development schemes.
Speaking on the occasion, central chairman APCA, Shahid Rafiq, who was chief guest on this occasion, announced full support to the struggle of NWFP contractors in the resolution of their problems.
He appreciated the spirit of the contractors for unanimous demand of the tendering of new development work under PEC documents. He said that with showing of such unity the contractors would soon get their demands accepted by the government.
Shahid Rafiq said that he had started re-organisation of the contractors in the country. The beginning, he said had already been started from Rawalpindi with the holding of a largely attended convention. The convention of Peshawar, he added would be followed by such events in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.
He said that their efforts are not only for the contractors, but also for different segment of society as the sector giving employment to 80 percent people of the rural areas in the country. Construction industry, he said is the backbone of the national economy as it provides support to 29 different sectors of the country.
Regarding the demand of the payment of bill in proportion to the growing prices of the construction material, he said that the matter had already been discussed with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. He said that the matter of escalation would be resolved next month.
He demanded of the chief minister NWFP for acceptance of the demands of the local contractors to get them out of the financial crunch. "The prices of the construction material increasing with passing day and the rate of the contractors should also be reviewed in proportion to it," demanded the central chairman APCA.