Construction sector shrinks amid inflation

Labourers struggle to find work as demand declines

RAWALPINDI:

The runaway inflation ailing Pakistan has impacted the construction industry as well with the increase in prices accompanied by a reduction reduction in the construction and development of new properties.

This has left a large popular of daily-wage earners including labourers, painters, masons, shuttering workers, lantern workers and plasterers associated with the construction industry without work.

Meanwhile, the ban on government development schemes has resulted in further contraction of contractual employment for a multitude of skilled and unskilled workers.

According to those association with the industry, the last year or so has seen the quantum of construction work has been reduced by more than 50 per cent.

Prices, meanwhile, continue to go up with a set of 1,000 bricks being sold for between Rs13,000 to Rs15,000 rupees in the open market. Cement sacks are being sold for Rs.1,200.

The cost of saria (steel rods used in construction) has gone up to Rs300,000 per tonne. A trolley of sand costs Rs5,500 while that of gravel is Rs6,500.

The workers also increased their daily wage with labourers paid Rs1,200 per day while masons were getting Rs2,000.

The cost of shuttering a five-marla house has gone up to Rs100,000 while the cost of plaster stood at Rs200,000. Similarly, the rates for plumbing, carpentry and window-work have also increased.

At the same time, there has been a rollback of the previous regime’s shelter homes and langarkhana (offering free food to the destitute), exacerbating the situation for the labour class.

This a problem for a large number of labourers who are from out of-town areas including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Potohar region, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Their families back home are relying on them for support.

Meanwhile, these labourers, sitting at around 35 locations including intersections and markets, are struggling to find work despite being there from 7am till 6pm.

“If someone visits these intersections in search of one or two workers, they would find at least two dozen candidates,” said Noor Muhammad, one of the labourers.

One such labourer Afzal Khan who is from Mardan said that he would make Rs1,000 daily until six months ago. Now, I would get that amount of work once in three to four days, he said. Afzal said a large number of labourers like him were now reduced to sleeping on the roadside and begging for food.

Niaz Amjad, who works as a mason and contracts other workers, said contractors were feeling the effect of the contraction as well. “We are now expected to do the same job at one-third of the price because there is no demand,” he stated.

Those associated with the construction business urged the government to abolish or relax the various types of taxes on construction materials and property. Amjad contended that over 70 other industries are connected to construction. “A construction surge means there is a domino effect with a wide range of professionals and individuals benefitting from it.”

These associated industries will not last unless the situation changes in the next three to four months, he warned.

Faisal Naseer has been doing paint jobs for almost two decades. He says he has not received any contract to paint house walls in the last month. “I get piecemeal commissions to do small coat or paint jobs of Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 after a week or so,” he complained.

He has now given up on hopes of the situation improving. “I am trying to go to Dubai by selling my wife and daughter's jewellery.”

Ibad Abbasi is from Rawalakot in AJK. For the last year, he has positioned himself at the Sadiqabad Chowk along with a variety of labourers. Most of them were struggling to find work.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2023.