KABUL (FACS) on Tuesday asked the government to mount pressure on the Supreme Group to clear dues amounting $22 million of Afghan logistics firms.
The call comes two days after the Supreme Group, supplying NATO-led troops and various diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, said it was in negotiations with contractors to resolve disputes.
“In an operation of this scale, it is inevitable that disputes with contractors will occur from time to time,” said Carissa Crowley, external communications manager.
Representatives of many logistic firms gathered in the Dispatchery area of Kabul on Saturday, chanting slogans against the group and accusing it of defaulting on payments.
Speaking at a joint press conference with representatives of Afghan logistics firms, FACS chief Sadiq Mansoor Ansari asked the government to help contractors resolve their problem with the Supreme Group.
Ansari also criticised Kabul police for blocking Saturday’s peaceful rally from proceeding ahead and beating protestors. He warned of rallies in Kabul and provinces if the Supreme Group did not clear Afghan contractors’ dues, saying people’s demands had fallen on deaf ears.
Only one Afghan firm, Mansoor Jalal Company, has signed a contract with the Supreme Group and contracted six others companies.
The firms had transferred fuel from Uzbekistan through the Hairatan dry port for the foreign company that had not paid them over the past 18 months, according to Mansoor Jalal Company’s advisor, Mohammad Yousuf Amin.
Amin alleged the foreign firm had even withheld wages of labourers and fares of vehicles. He said Supreme Group officials were staying in Dubai and the firm had no official in Afghanistan.
ma/mud
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