Contractors seek reimbursement provision

The All Orissa Contractors’ Association has demanded that the state government should reimburse the differential cost of construction materials for the on-going and future contract works in the state.

They have urged the state government to simplify the procedures and include Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) within the purview of the re-imbursement provisions.

Stating that urgent amendments in certain provisions of the PWD contract provisions and rules are required, the forum said, this is essential for the civil contractors of the state to stay in business.

Addressing the media, Jagdeep Bansal, convenor, Western Orissa Contractors Forum said, the contractors community are facing many problems like non-finalisation of completed work, approval of deviations and extension of time, non-reimbursement of statutory increases like royalty and minimum wages for labour, non-adoption of standard bidding documents and excessive high liability period. He said, though the state government made provisions for the differential cost payments, it lacks clarity and excludes the PMGSY works.

Though the price of the core materials used in the construction has increased manifold over last 5 to 7 years, the standard schedule rate has remained unchanged since 2002-03. Since the Bitumen cost per square metre is about Rs 240, all the contractors are incurring a loss of about Rs 2 lakh per kilometre of road constructed. The road development work may come to a grinding halt if the state government does not take remedial measure immediately, he pointed out.

Pravat Dash, president, Orissa Contractors’ Association said, a delegation of the association has already met the works minister, finance minister, rural development minister in this regard and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister, Naveen Patnaik. The contractors in the districts like Koraput are not given blasting permission and are not getting the support of the state administration.