Soaring price of building materials worries FCAN

Kathmandu, January 8

Federation of Contractors' Association of Nepal (FCAN) has expressed serious concerns over the recent hike in price of petroleum products and soaring price of construction materials in the market.

Citing that the surging fuel price and price of construction materials like cement and rods have been adversely affecting the entire construction business lately, FCAN has also urged the government and producers of different construction materials to immediately bring down prices of fuel and construction materials.

“At a time when construction and reconstruction activities across the country are accelerating, rise in prices of cement, rods and fuel will directly hamper the pace of development activities. Therefore, the related government agencies and producers of construction materials should roll back their decisions to raise price of all construction materials,” said Bishnubhai Shrestha, president of FCAN.

In case the related agencies are unable to control the surging price of construction materials, FCAN officials have said that the government should compensate contractors for additional cost that they would have to bear during the construction works.

The FCAN statement has come as Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased price of petroleum products three times over the last one month. Similarly, though cement manufacturers say that they have not hiked cement price, cost of a sack of cement in the market has gone up by almost Rs 100 to reach Rs 900 (depending on brand) in recent days.