Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Pakistan’s construction industry is on the verge of collapse and looks towards the government to move forward and take necessary steps to help the industry.
There is a sudden increase in the prices of construction materials i.e. steel, cement, bitumen, aluminium (doors and windows), cables, bricks, sand, fuel and energy that has made it difficult for the construction to cope with and it is right time the government should announce some concessions and package for the industry.
These concerns were raised during a meeting of a delegation of the Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) with Federal Minister of Planning Development and Special Initiative Asad Umar to resolve the constructors’ issues and escalation in prices of construction items.
The delegation led by Engr Kamal Nasir Khan, Chairman of the CAP drew the attention of the minister towards the issues of price hike, which had badly affected the construction industry.
The Minister was briefed that in the current scenario the price increasing trend in construction items was likely to continue for some time in future. Resultantly, it is impossible to execute the new, ongoing and future construction projects.
Only the government intervention can save these projects and companies, otherwise many companies will be closed and projects will be left incomplete, said Kamal Nasir Khan.
The CAP delegation was headed by Engr. Kamal Nasir Khan, Chairman CAP/Executive Director, Saadullah Khan and Brothers (SKB), Engr. Asad Mukhtar, Senior Vice Chairman/Chairman Banu Mukhtar Construction Complany, Mr. Kaleem ullah Malik, Vice Chairman/MD Kaleem Enterprises and Executive Members Engr. Arshad Dad, MD Qavi Engineers, Engr. Shahid Rafiq, Director, Habib Rafiq Construction Company, Engr. Khalid Bashir, CEO, Zirva (Pvt) Ltd, and Kh. Shoaib Mohi-uddin, MD Khawaja Builders.
