LAHORE: The Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) on Wednesday staged a fierce protest against the top officials of Punjab’s Communications and Works Department (CWD) for deliberately ignoring the issues being faced by the contractors.
A meeting between the CWD secretary and a delegation of the CAP was scheduled for Wednesday after the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to resolve the issues of the contractors but when the CAP officials arrived at the venue, they were told that the secretary had left for Sahiwal to meet the chief minister.
The CAP Chairman Syed Ashfaq Hussain and Senior Vice Chairman Irshad Dada then staged a protest against the government officials and CWD secretary for postponing the scheduled meeting without informing them.
The chairman said he wants to take his case to a higher level. “The CWD secretary postponed the meeting without fixing the next date. He can postpone the meeting for another day but he should have informed the CAP officials on time,” he said.
“The construction and housing industries ensure the work of 44 allied industries and create many jobs, besides continuing economic activities. The biggest problem for builders in the province is that despite the registration of any construction company with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), the provincial departments do not process the PEC standard bidding documents.”
“When provincial departments recognize the license issued to a construction company by the PEC, then why they do not recognize the bidding documents?” the chairman questioned.
“The Punjab government demands performance guarantees from contractors and the rules require that the contractor should provide performance protection to the employer in the prescribed form. Contractors demand that insurance bonds be accepted instead of performance protection. The limit of Rs50 million for performance guarantee was set 10 years ago> As now the prices of construction materials have gone up by more than 10 per cent, it is suggested that the limit of performance guarantee be increased to Rs300 million,” he concluded.
