The Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN) has demanded the government to pay Rs 60bn immediately to the contractors. Making public the 27-point Kathmandu Declaration after its 24th Annual General Meeting, FCAN has said that the government is yet to make the payment of the works that have already been completed.
Speaking on the occasion, FCAN President Rabi Singh said the government has not yet cleared the bills presented in the last fiscal year for the completed works. ” Contractors are facing financial difficulties as they have not received payments for the works they’ve already accomplished,” he said.
He said that the contracts that the state cannot pay immediately should be terminated as per the law and should be taken forward only when the resources are arranged. According to Singh, contractors have not been able to process many contracts since the government has failed to provide the money. “The budgetary operation is currently in deficit. In this situation, it would be better to terminate the contract if the government is not in a position to make payments to the contractors,” he said.
FCAN is of the view that the government should issue a white paper if it is unable to make payments to the contractors. It has also demanded that the recent price increment should be adjusted in the contract amount.
An agreement was reached between the federation and the government on May 26, 2022, to address the excessive and unexpected increase in the price of construction materials. “Based on that agreement, guidelines should be issued for the price adjustment,” said FCAN.
Similarly, the federation has requested to extend the deadline of the contract projects which are sick.
According to FCAN, the works of the projects that are under construction have been affected due to elections, crusher shutdown, excessive royalty collected by the local level at various places, non-availability of project sites due to delay in compensation, payment issue, and liquidity problems, among others. Such projects’ deadlines should be extended, said FCAN.
Similarly, the federation also demanded that 20 percent of the mobilization advance should be compulsorily provided as stated in the Public Procurement Act.
In addition, it has also demanded that the demands of the contractors should be fully addressed while amending the Public Procurement Act.
