Economic Reporter :
The Bangladesh Association of Construction Industries (BACI) on Tuesday said prices of construction materials need to be readjusted in government tenders due to rate increase in the international and domestic market.
They also noted that ongoing construction projects of the government may be halted due to the increased cost to be borne by the contractors.
In a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU), former BACI President Sheikh Md Rafikul Islam said the price of MS rods has jumped by 45% at Tk78-80,000.
“Key construction materials like MS rod, stone chip, cement, brick, grill, etc all are seeing an unnatural hike in prices continuously,” he said in a written statement. The increased price of fuel will add to the misery of contractors.
Moreover, the wages of manpower related to the industry [labourers, superviser] have also surged by 60-70%, added Rafikul Islam and said increased costing has slowed down the construction projects. “The availability of financial assistance from banks is becoming uncertain as the contractors cannot repay the loans for the slow progress of projects. Financial ability of the contractors has reduced severely,” he said.
BACI warned it will be impossible to implement the projects If it is not possible to curb the ongoing abnormal trend of price hikes. Rafikul Islam, while reading out the BACI statement, said all the government constructions are carried out with a fixed rate on tenders. “That is why even if the material costs rise, we [contractors] do not get a price adjustment from the government,” he added. Meanwhile, the rate schedule followed in government tenders was made in 2018 as a result the jump in material cost was not updated, said the former BACI chief.
The contractors’ body put forward a set of proposals to the government that includes issuing a special Principals Projects Requirements (PPR) notice for price adjustment in ongoing projects, and updating the rate schedule for all government tenders.
