Contractors in Pakistan are expressing grave concern over sharp rise in cement prices in short span of a few days, have urged the government to take immediate steps to bring the cement prices down. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, officials said that massive increase of approximately Rs 100 per cement bag is not only hitting the whole construction industry hard but also hampering the ongoing development projects in the country.
’If timely measures were not taken to check this phenomenon of unbridled and unprecedented increase it would put a reverse gear to all government efforts aimed at bringing economic stability’, they said. At present when all the cement-manufacturing units are working in their full capacity the increase in prices is unjustified and the concerned government departments should take immediate notice of the situation.
They said that almost all the building contractors who had quoted the old rates of cement would be in deep trouble, as it would be very difficult for them to execute the projects at hand. They further said that at a time when the government was taking all possible measures to invite foreign investment, the increase in the cement prices would put negative impact on foreign investment. They suggested to the government that there should be some regulatory authority to control the prices of cement.
