KATHMANDU, Dec 8: Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has pledged to release the dues of contractors from Sunday.
Speaking at a program on Saturday, Finance Minister Paudel reiterated the government’s commitment to clear the dues. Earlier too, the government had repeated time and again to clear the dues of the contractors, which has not been realized till date.
Contractors give govt a week’s ultimatum to clear their dues wo...
According to the contractors, the government has paid only Rs 15 billion out of the total dues of Rs 45 billion. Although the government had promised the contractors to settle their payments by mid-October this year, it is yet to fulfill the promise.
Rabi Singh, president of the Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal, said a number of contractors have been facing risk of being blacklisted if they do not pay bank loans and interests by mid-December. “While the government has been dilly dallying to clear our dues, the contractors have been suffering from the rising cost of the construction materials,” said Singh.
Finance Minister Paudel however said only the payments which are facing mismatch in contractors’ claims and the government evaluation are not released. “As there are discrepancies in government maintained records and the claims of the contractors, the payments have been delayed,” said Paudel, adding that the bills that follow official processes will be cleared from Sunday onwards.
