With construction costs rising, building a solid home became a dream

Lahore: Due to the increase in coal and transport costs, the production cost of bricks has increased tremendously, while on the other hand, construction works are also seeing a decrease due to the expensive material.

According to the kiln owners, the sale of bricks has decreased significantly while the price of bricks is at the lowest level in the last five years. Due to losses, 20 percent of the kilns in Punjab have been completely closed, while nearly 70 percent are close to closing.

With rising inflation in the country and rising prices of construction materials, building a solid house is becoming a dream for the common man, while on the other hand, thousands of kilns are on the verge of closing down in Punjab, which will render lakhs of people unemployed.

Rana Aftab, a resident of Manawan area of ​​Lahore, started the construction of a house in a private society three months ago, but the construction material has become so expensive that he had to stop the construction of the house.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rana Aftab said that he was building a three-marla single-story house, he had drawn a formal map and had also obtained an estimate of the cost from a local architect, which was around Rs 21 lakh. Rana Aftab says that about 18 lakh rupees have been spent till now, but only the structure of the house has been erected and the lantern has been installed, while other works like flooring, plastering are yet to be done. He said that another 10 to 15 lakh rupees are likely to be spent.

According to Rana Aftab, according to the cost given by the architect, after adding 30 thousand bricks, 350 sacks of cement, 1100 square feet of sand, 800 square feet of gravel and 1250 kg of gravel, the total cost was 21 lakh rupees. The price of Saria and cement has increased during the month itself.

The price of bricks in the market is currently at the lowest level in the last five years.

The price per thousand bricks is 11,500 rupees in Lahore, 9,000 rupees in Kasur, Patuki and Okara, 7,500 to 8,000 rupees in Pakpattan, 6,000 rupees in Sahiwal, 7,500 to 8,000 rupees in Rahim Yar Khan and 7,500 to 8,000 rupees in Multan. 7500 up to Rs. In Lahore, bricks are being sold for up to 15 thousand rupees per thousand by adding the delivery costs, whereas last year the price of bricks per thousand in Lahore was up to 17 thousand rupees.

Maher Abdul Haq, Secretary General of Kiln Owners Association, said that the cost of manufacturing 10 lakh bricks was Rs 70 to 80 lakh, which has now increased to Rs 120 lakh. The price of coal imported from Balochistan was 14 to 15 thousand rupees per ton, which increased to 30 to 35 thousand rupees, while the price of coal imported from Hyderabad was 6 thousand rupees per ton, which has reached 12 thousand rupees per ton. . Similarly, the rent per ton of coal has increased from Rs.4,000 to Rs.8,000. The price of a mud trolley has increased from Rs 1500 to Rs 2500.

Mehr Abdul Haq said that M Bhatta Malik is facing a monthly loss of around Rs 10 to 15 lakh because when the fire is lit for the preparation of bricks, it cannot be extinguished before the process is completed. Thousands of workers are employed, but currently 20% of the kilns in Punjab are completely closed, while 70% of the kilns are nearing closure due to continuous losses and decrease in brick sales. The total number of brick kilns in Punjab is 7,332.

It should be noted that due to the floods in South Punjab last year, the kiln industry was also severely damaged, but due to the fact that this sector was not given the status of an industry, it could not get any assistance from the government nor to rehabilitate the kilns. No steps have been taken. Brick kilns in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Taunsa, DG Khan, Wahari and Leh were severely damaged by floods. Millions of raw and finished bricks were damaged and water entered the kilns.