Contractors up in arms against government

Kathmandu, July 14

Stating that they haven't received their payments even at the end of the fiscal year, construction entrepreneurs staged a sit-in against the government at Maitighar on Friday.

The protest is led by the Federation of Contractors Associations Nepal (FCAN). Issuing a statement, it said that more than 24,000 construction entrepreneurs have agitated across the country demanding the payment of their dues and 'real deadline extension' of the project.

It has been saying that the government order issued to extend the deadline of the projects that crossed the stipulated time due to COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions including the shut-down of crusher industries earlier this year would cause distortion in the industry.

In a press conference organised on Sunday, Rabi Singh, President of the FCAN, said that the notification of the order issued by the government couldn't be used for an actual extension of deadline.

There are issues that could be the subjects and grounds for compensating the contractors, but the order has remained silent on this matter, instead it has been designed to save the government agencies from their basic responsibility, he had said.

Meanwhile, speaking at the sit-in protest, Singh said that they were forced to come to the street as the government didn't respond to their demands.

According to him, families of hundreds of thousands of workers have been affected as they couldn't be paid on time due to the government's delay in clearing the dues. 

  Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 July 2023.