December 16, Kathmandu.Ninety percent of heavy equipment have been lying idle since September as under-construction infrastructure sector projects have been brought to a complete halt because of the scarcity of petroleum products. According to Tara Bahadur Kuwar, president of the Heavy Equipment Association of Nepal, out of the 4,000 heavy machineries in the country, nearly 3,600 are lying idle and only about 400 are operating in the Western region and in areas near the Indian border.
- Monthly loss 840 million rupees
- Investment worth 40 billion rupees at risk
- 20,000 workers directly affected
Construction entrepreneurs say that heavy machineries are lying idle for the lack of fuel because of the Indian blockade. They also complain that as some equipment were still at the construction sites, there was a risk of their parts being stolen and their engines falling into disrepair. Kuwar said that the government should provide fuel for bringing these machineries to safety. Construction entrepreneurs feel that they can prevent these machineries from going out of order if they are provided fuel on a daily or weekly basis.
In Nepal, heavy machineries are used mostly in hydroelectricity projects, cement factories, stone quarries, sand excavation, crusher industries, brick kilns, bridge construction, and road widening and pitching of roads.“This situation has emerged because no project has started operation since the beginning of the current fiscal year,” entrepreneurs say. Some projects have, however, managed to continue operation by buying fuel even at a higher price.
According to Heavy Equipment Entrepreneurs’ Association, Rs 40 billion has already been invested in this sector. On an average, a heavy machine costs Rs 6 million. “Most of the entrepreneurs have not been able to even pay their installments to banks,” said Kuwar. According to him, out of the total investment, 50 percent of investment comes from loan. So far,a loss of Rs 3.36 billion has already been incurred. The monthly loss is Rs 840 million. One unit of Heavy equipment gives a monthly business turnover of around Rs 200,000.
About 20 thousand workers have been directly affected because of so many heavy machineries lying idle.
According to the association, there are 2,500 backhoe loaders out of four thousand pieces of heavy equipment. Likewise, there are 500 loaders, cranes and dozers. Out of 2 thousand excavators, about 1 thousand are in irreparable condition. In addition to this, there are 200 platform trailer trucks for carrying heavy equipment lying completely idle.
