KABUL -  Demanding their ‘unpaid seven billion afghanis’ arrears’ from the Ministry of Interior (MoI), a large number of private contractors erected a protest tent in front the Parliament building in Kabul on Monday.
The protesting people are members of construction companies union “Afghanistan-i-Nawin’ who claims the MoI owes them above 7 billion afghanis in unpaid dues after executing 315 projects of the MoI between 1393 and 1395 solar years.
InayatullahSadiq, a senior member of the union, said their protest was aimed at demanding restoration of the rights of around 200 construction companies by the MoI.
He claimed the companies had implemented 315 projects for the interior ministry, but they were yet to be paid the costs.
He said they had several times shared their concern about the outstanding amount with the Parliament and other departments, but the problem remained.
Sadiq said they would not remove their protest tent until the rights of the construction companies were returned.
Eng. Najibullah, an official of a construction company, told Pajhwok Afghan News in the protest tent that the MoI owed him around 370 million afghanis for many projects his firm had completed. He also vowed not to give up.
Meanwhile, MoI spokesman NasratRahimi said the ministry had tasked a team with assessing and resolving the problem.
He said the ministries of interior and finance were jointly working on a procedure for pay the defaulted money to the companies until the tasked team completed its assessment.
The Afghanistan-i-Nawin has given the government a 10-day deadline to pay their outstanding money otherwise they would continue to protest. (Pajhwok)