Contractors constructing Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms have asked for an enhancement of their pay citing the current harsh economic situation across the country.
They asked for a pay rise in compensation from the current Kshs. 788,000 to Kshsl 1.1 million per classroom. Around fifty per cent of CBC, contractors are said to have withdrawn from the second phase of the construction of the CBC classrooms.
On Saturday, the contractors told the ‘Star’ that the government’s current estimates are too low and have asked for them to be increased.
According to some of the interviews, some contractors have been forced to abandon projects despite being contracted to do so.
While the first part of the Kshs. 788,000 CBC classrooms have been completed, the final stage is still ongoing.
The contractors are imploring the government to raise the price per classroom to be increased to Kshs. 1.1 million as materials and other prices have increased quite sharply over the last year.
The issue has been connected to the high cost of labour, sand, cement, roofing sheets, and other construction inputs.
Josphat Gichure, the Chairperson of the Nakuru Contractors Association said that several classrooms could not be completed on time.
The group revealed that more than fifty per cent of the first-phase contractors had withdrawn from the second phase.
“We are grateful for the opportunity, but we are incurring huge losses, hence, the move to pull out,” said Gichure on Saturday.
According to him, some of the contractors agreed to build many classrooms in the first phase.
However, this has not been possible due to the harsh economic crisis, “thus the delay” according to Gichure.
Nakuru Director of Education Fredrick Osewe said that the cost per classroom had been brought up but the Ministry of Education has been managing the issue.