The five-day expo will contain 63 stalls of domestic and overseas firms dealing in construction materials and services. The exhibits will comprise construction and mining equipment, latest technology materials and services, pipes and fittings, cement, paint, solar thermal energy, water proofing, safety rescue and fire fighting. Engineers, interior designers, banks and insurance companies will also establish stalls at the expo.  

FCAN President Jayaram Lamichhane said that the expo would help to revive the construction sector which has been stagnating due to various hurdles related to crusher factories last year. “The government declared 700 crusher factories to be illegal, and it badly hampered the construction industry besides pushing up prices,” he said. “Sand and pebbles cost Rs 100 per kg now, against Rs 42 per kg a year ago.”  

Lamichhane added that housing and apartment projects did okay but government construction projects were down 26 percent. “In the last fiscal year, bidding was done for government projects worth Rs 49 billion while the budget allocation was Rs 89 billion,” he said. According to the association, there are 17,000 licensed contractors with a working capacity of Rs 700 billion.

“Without basic infrastructure, we won’t be a progressive and economically strong country, so construction plays a very important role,” he said. “We have to make all the people involved in this sector active, and the expo will create a platform for all the stakeholders.” He added that the construction industry was optimistic this year due to a comparatively better political environment.

Meanwhile, Binod Keshari Upadhyay, president of the Federation of Construction Materials Business Association of Nepal, said that the country had still been importing more than 50 percent of its requirement of building materials. “Except sand and pebbles, we have to import cement, iron products and other materials from various countries like India, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand,” he said.   

Similarly, Ram Sharan Deuja, coordinator of the expo, said that the event would create a forum for visitors to learn about products related to construction.

According to him, 26 stalls have been booked and three Indian companies have signed up as exhibitors. The organizers have expected 40,000 visitors and transactions worth Rs 120 million. The price of an entrance ticket has been fixed at Rs 25.