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| Kathmandu, Saturday September 13, 2003 Bhadra 27, 2060. |
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Price
of construction materials up by 3 pc
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Sept 12 :
Anchored by the recovery in real estate transactions, particularly in the urban areas, the
prices of major construction materials recorded an increment of over 3 percent in the last
fiscal year.
The overall Price of
Construction Materials for the period compiled and disseminated by the Central Bureau of
Statistics (CBS) registered an upsurge of 3.18 percent against the increment of 5 percent
witnessed during the previous year.
Of the major
construction materials, the price of cement that holds the largest weight of 26.66 percent
in the index went up by 6.54 percent during the period. Recent increment in the prices of
chief raw materials for cement in international market is the main reason for the surge.
Frequent shutdown of
domestic cement factories, which hardly support half of the national demand, fuelled the
dependency upon imported cement – another influential reason for the price rise.
Likewise, the price of
bricks that command the second largest weight on overall index, recorded a low increment
of 2.47 percent. High demand of bricks along with the increased production largely helped
to contain the price rise at lower level.
However, concerned
entrepreneurs warn that the price of bricks might go up further in days to come as
environmental activists along with the government is mulling to announce various measures
to relocate the brick kilns to farther off areas.
In contrast to a series
of price rise, the growth in the price index for iron rods, billets and others during the
review period went down by 1.57 percent against a rise of over 7 percent during the
previous year.
Despite recent rise of
steel in the international market, excess production of rods in the past and revaluation
of domestic currency are some of the reasons of the price decline.
Similarly, during the
period, the price of electrical wires and cables also registered a rise of 2.39 percent as
compared to previous year whereas the price of corrugated sheet also increased by 2.25 per
cent.
Similarly, the price of
woods sawn, which is the smallest weight holder among the six major construction materials
incorporated by the index, recorded a high surge of over 10 percent.
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