Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 8

14,000 contractors associated with the Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (FCAN) have announced that they would intensify protest programmes across the country if the government did not agree to meet the demands put forth by them.

"Despite our request to resolve the problems, the government has not sought a solution yet which is going to hit development budget of the country. This will ultimately affect development activities, Shakuntalal Hirachan, president of FCAN said at a press conference here yesterday.

"The government is already behind in spending development budget in the current fiscal year which stands only at Rs 4 billion and if the construction work is not expedited, it would not help increase the development budget spending and remains unspent," he added.

"The Federation has already met various senior government officials and the ministers, but they turned deaf ear to our demands," informed president Hirachan, "And the contractors have also boycotted 200 tenders worth Rs 500 million."

Hirachan said that the government is taking the names of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) to ignore the demands of contractors. "Contractors have been demanding that contracts upto Rs 60 million should be left for free competition through legal tenders, but the government is not agreeing on the point," said Hirachan.