Construction industry faces major crisis: FCAN President Singh

Kathmandu, January 12 — President of the Federation of Contractors' Associations of Nepal (FCAN), Rabi Singh, has stated that the construction industry is facing significant challenges.

Speaking at a meeting organized to gather suggestions from construction entrepreneurs across the country on issues like the excessive rise in construction material prices, payment shortages, the cancellation of facilities from the central bank, and the management of problematic contracts, Singh mentioned that the industry has been consistently facing multiple issues.

Singh emphasized, "Despite completing construction work, construction entrepreneurs are still awaiting payment from previous fiscal years, and the outstanding amounts have not been cleared, which has severely impacted the construction industry."

He added that even the partial payments made by the government to construction entrepreneurs this fiscal year were only from the allocated budget for the current year, which means that the payment issues for additional construction work in the current fiscal year could become more complicated.

Singh pointed out that the government’s indifference to the construction industry, which plays a vital role in uplifting the country’s struggling economy, and its failure to make payments for completed work, leaves the industry with no option but to prepare for decisive protests.

He claimed that the construction industry’s problems stemmed from the arbitrary actions of political leadership and bureaucratic negligence.