April 25: The Federation of Contractors' Associations of Nepal (FCAN) has announced a 'construction holiday' arguing that there is lack of environment conducive for construction due to price hike of construction materials.

Excessive price hike of construction materials, some errors in the 11th amendment to the Public Procurement Regulation and provisions in the Insurance Directives, 2078 BS among others have made the matter worse, said the federation.

As a result, approximately 3,500 projects have been halted in protest.

FCAN President Rabi Singh confirmed that they have announced a construction holiday as the construction business is at risk of collapsing.

According to Singh, over 17,000 contractors have been on the brink of quitting their business. Construction of around 1500 projects has continued however, he said.

Singh added that they will launch sit-ins at the district administration office of all 77 districts and the office of the Chief Minister of all seven provinces from April 26.

The FCAN in a statement urged the government to resolve the problems faced by the construction industry as they will have negative impacts on country's economy as a whole.

The statement said they had to resort to protest after their repeated calls to the government to address their problem went unheard.

As part of their protest, they launched sit-in in front of the office of the Public Procurement and Monitoring Office and the Insurance Board last Thursday and Friday.

They have demanded price adjustment of construction materials, amendment of inconsistent points in the 11th amendment to the Public Procurement Regulation, 2078 and to scrap the Insurance Directive, 2078.    

The Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal has also expressed its solidarity with the demand of scraping the Insurance Directive, 2078. -- RSS