Construction slump shuts brick kilns
About 20 per cent brick kilns in the province have been shut down due to a slump in construction activities coupled with rising production cost.
According to kiln owners, there has been a significant decline in brick sales, while the prices are at their lowest level of the past five years. Due to losses, 20 per cent of the kilns in Punjab have closed down, while about 70% are facing a shutdown, they added.
Kiln Owners Association secretary general Mehar Abdul Haq told The Express Tribune that the cost of manufacturing one million bricks had increased from Rs7 million to Rs12 million in recent years. The price of coal bought from Balochistan has risen from Rs14,000 to Rs35,000 per tonne and Hyderabad Rs6,000 to Rs12,000k. Similarly, the transportation cost of coal has doubles to Rs8,000 per tonne.
The price of mud per tractor trolley has increased from Rs1,500 to Rs2,500.
Due to the increase in the coal and transport costs, the production cost of bricks has risen drastically.
On the other hand, the construction activities have declined substantially as a result of the high cost of material.
Abdul Haq said kiln owners were suffering a monthly loss of around Rs1.5 million because when the fire is lit for producing bricks, it cannot be extinguished before the process is completed.
Thousands of workers are employed in brick kilns, but 20% of the units in Punjab are closed, while most others are on the brink of shutting down due to continuous losses and lack of sales, he added.
He said thousands of kilns in Punjab were on the verge of closure, because of which a large number of people would become unemployed.
The total number of brick kilns in Punjab is 7,332.
Due to rising inflation in the country pushing up the prices of construction material, building a house is becoming difficult for the citizens.
A resident of Manawan area of Lahore, Rana Aftab, started constructing his house in a private society three months ago. but the material has become so expensive that he had to stop the work.
Talking to The Express Tribune, he said he was building a three-marla single-storey house. He prepared a layout plan and got an estimate of the cost from a local contractor of Rs2.1 million.
Aftab said about Rs1.8 million had been spent so far but only the structure of the building had been completed, while the other work, including flooring and plastering, had yet to be done.
He said he would have to spend another Rs1 million on the construction.
He said the earlier cost estimate was based on the previous prices of 30,000 bricks, 350 sacks of cement, 1,100 square feet of sand, 800 square feet of gravel and 1,250kg of steel. But during the past two months the price of steel and cement has also increased.
The current price per thousand bricks is Rs11,500 in Lahore, Rs9,000 in Kasur, Pattoki and Okara, Rs7,500 to Rs8,000 in Pakpattan, Rs6,000 in Sahiwal and Rs7,500 in Rahim Yar Khan and Multan.
The cost in Lahore including transportation is Rs15,000 per thousand. The price last year was up to Rs17,000.
The flood in South Punjab last year had also severely damaged a large number of brick kilns.
However, as the sector did not have the status of an industry, no assistance was offered by the government to revive the units, an owner said.
Brick kilns in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Taunsa, Dera Ghazi Khan, Vehari and Layyah were damaged by flooding along with the material for millions of bricks, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2023.