New policy: Contractors afraid of being left jobless

Engineering degree now required to build infrastructure in tribal belt.

PESHAWAR:

Government contractors working in the tribal areas expressed concern over the cancellation of their licences and asked authorities in the tribal belt to exempt them from registering with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).

During a press conference  on Thursday, Khyber Contractors Association President Iqbal Khan said the government has not issued new contracts to them since June 2012, which is creating financial difficulties.

According to the previous rules, the political administration of all agencies would issue licences to contractors.

Contractor Bacha Khan said that new schemes are not being allotted to them since they are not registered with the engineering council.

He said the new rule will deprive locals from obtaining deals and only big companies in settled areas would be able to work on construction in the tribal areas.

Participant Fida Khan said that despite law and order problems, contractors hailing from the tribal areas have been successfully developing infrastructure.  He reiterated that most contractors do not have engineering degrees making it impossible to fulfil the PEC’s criteria.

The new rules do not take into account work experience, participants said.  “We reject the new policy and demand the authorities of the Fata secretariat to restore the licences issued through the political administration,” said Contractor Samad Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2012.