Protesting against the awarding of contracts of government run projects to non-local contractors in Bajaur Agency, local government contractors on Friday announced a boycott of work on development projects if the trend was not reversed.
An All FATA Contractors Association (AFCA) official said the association was worried about the trend of ignoring local government contractors in government and privately run projects. AFCA President Haji Zahir Jan and other office bearers including Gul Karim Khan, Haji Bahadur Khan, Umar Wahid Khan, Dilawar Khan and Haji Rahat Yousuf reiterated the decision to boycott work on running developmental projects if contracts of non-local contractors were not cancelled at the earliest.
According to the law, all government and privately run developmental projects were to be awarded to local contractors, AFCA officials said. They said further that a majority of the government and non-governmental institutions including FATA Special Support Program, FATA Rural Development Project and FATA Development Authority had imposed a ban on awarding any project to local contractors.
They said local contractors had the required equipments and valid licenses to work on any project however they were being deprived of work. They said the non-local contractors were perhaps more ‘proficient’ in greasing palms of concerned quarters in acquiring contracts, adding that such illegal decisions were reducing the quality of work.
