Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Prithivi Raj Ligal declared open the national conference and the sixth general meeting of the Federation of the Contractors Associations of Nepal here on Friday.
On the occasion, Mr. Ligal observed that like other sectors, the construction sector was also facing many challenges brought about by stiff competition.
He said the NPC was ready to add provisions in the documents prepared by it so that Nepalese contractors would get more opportunity for work but stressed that the Federation should come up with concrete suggestions in this regard.
He also urged the contractors and those involved in the construction business to improve the quality and standard of their works since donor agencies and donor countries gave priority especially to the standard and the quality of work.
NPC member Dr. Jagdish Chandra Pokharel called upon all the contractors to pay attention to many charges levelled against the Nepalese contractors such as they back down on the amount of tender bids, resort to political pressures to get contracts or engage in petty horse trading in bagging contracts and improve their public standing.
He said the contractors and construction entrepreneurs who are the backbone of development in the country should gear ahead in fulfilling their duty keeping with their professional ethics and full patriotism.
President of the Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal, Ramesh Sharma from the chair requested the National Planning Commission to come out with a special policy and programme for the development of the construction industry since the provision of deducting 0.1 per cent of the amount on each contract and depositing it in the Construction Entrepreneurs Fund made in the Construction Industry Regulations would create enough fund for funding training, studies and research in the sector.
He commented that the newly introduced Financial Administration Regulations was not liberal as the previous one and it was also impractical on many counts.
He expressed his views against the pre-qualification and post-qualification process and said this should be done away with as it invited many distortions and all the contractors should be left to compete freely.
The immediate past president of the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal and the International Federation of the Asia and the West Pacific Contractors Associations (IFAPCWA) Ganesh Lal Shrestha said that the international exposure and the role of the Federation has been enhanced after joining the IFAPCWA.
A total of 400 contractors and construction entrepreneurs are taking part in the conference which concludes on February 27.