GÜRCAFER: THE AGREED AND THE IMPLEMENTED REGULATION ARE NOT THE SAME

Cafer Gürcafer, President of the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (CTBCA), noted that the ” Regulation (Amendment) for the Principles and Procedures to be Applied in Construction Works Tenders” cannot meet the need in its current form.

Emphasizing that the agreed regulation and the implemented one are not the same, Gürcafer said that the system still has the blocks in front of it.

Gürcafer stated that the morale of the contractors is low and they feel negative with respect to participating in the tenders; “This is a regulation and a regulation can be changed by a decision of the Council of Ministers. Therefore, they can correct this error in 1-2 days.”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer, speaking on Gündem Kıbrıs Web TV, said, “The implementation of the price difference application was an issue that we have been bringing up for a long time and that we once took action for. Insomuch, our contractors suffered a lot from this. This is the reason for many of our contractors having gone bankrupt over many years.

The government signs a contract with you in Turkish Lira (TL) and for reasons not caused by you, the TL is constantly losing value against foreign currencies. Your input costs and expenses are in a foreign currency, but what you receive is in TL. In other words, what you get versus what you spend is constantly melting away. While your profit is 10%, your loss is 85%. For this reason, many of our contractor companies went bankrupt.”

Stating that the contractor’s voice has not been heard on this issue for years, Gürcafer said that this was ended during the current government and that Prime Minister Ünal Üstel gave the necessary instructions for the implementation of the price difference application, and that the Minister of Public Works and Transport contributed significantly to this issue.

Gürcafer saying that in the process the practice in Turkey was taken as an example, added that, “I cannot afford to lose 70-80 percent in a TL-based business where my profit is 5 percent or at most 10 percent.”

Cafer Gürcafer said: “This issue was discussed and a solution was found, and the Prime Minister gave us the good news about it. You participated in the tender, you signed your contract. An advance of 30 percent will be given in exchange for the letter of guarantee. If the rise in foreign currency goes above 13 percent after you start the job, you will be paid the difference. That was what we knew, that was how the agreement was, but unfortunately we discovered that the regulation which got passed by the Council of Ministers was not like that.

In this regard, Burak Bey, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, apparently developed a formula of his own. He claimed to have spoken to us, but neither with our administration, nor with our technical staff, nor in the meetings held with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, nor at the Prime Ministry, such a thing was ever discussed.”

“WE ARE QUIBBLING LIKE A TRADER WITH WORDS”

Gürcafer, commenting on the ‘Principles and Procedures (Amendment) Regulation to be Applied in Construction Works Tenders’, “For example, let’s say that there is a 16 percent rise in value of  foreign currency for the first progress payment, it will be reduced by 13 percent, a difference of 3 percent will be given to you, but if there is a 25 percent increase in the second progress payment from the date you signed the tender, that will be ignored it and the exchange rate on the first progress payment date will be used and the second progress payment will be made at the exchange rate as per the first progress payment”.

Stating that we are quibbling like a trader with words, CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said, “You are the State, I am an individual of this State. I am a sector, an institution, an organization that pays taxes to the State and contributes billions of liras to the State due to its commercial activities. In fact, all of these constitute the State, society, people and the TRNC. Therefore, he said, the authorities claim; ‘This is the extent of our strength, ’then you won’t be doing 20 jobs. You will do a few, but you will do it right.”

“THE RISK WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE LIFE MISERABLE FOR US, WE NEED TO TAKE MEASURES ASAP”

Cafer Gürcafer said, ‘’Considering the statements made by international financial institutions, and when global economic developments are evaluated, the fluctuation of the foreign currency values will not stop, and disaster scenarios are drawn for November in this regard.

Continuing his speech, Gürcafer said, “This risk will continue to make life miserable for us”, and added, “Therefore, we need to take precautions as soon as possible. Because unless measures are taken, we will not be able to do business, and when we cannot do business, the needs of the state and therefore the people cannot be met.”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer said, “For example, the renovation of schools, the repair of the main hospital, roads, pavements, et cetera, such needs are not being met. We say, ‘Do not give us any kickback, do not give us any profit either. If you want, you buy the material, we will in turn only do it for the cost.’ We do not concern ourselves with making profit from the state. We are actually trying to fulfil a responsibility. But if this is tried to be put on our backs, we cannot do it, we do not have such resilience”, he said.

Emphasizing the lack of a system, Gürcafer said, “UNDP is issuing tenders, our contractors are participating in these tenders, the opportunities they offer us are 2-3 times more than the opportunities offered by our state, and it should be vice versa. We have to place this business within a system,” he said, warning that “we are very late on this issue”.

Cafer Gürcafer continued his speech as follows: “There is a Girne Hospital tender that has turned into an unresolved mess. We have to publish an addendum and say that the price difference application will be applied in the tender of the hospital. Because the hospital is a tender issued in TL and it is very risky. If foreign currency values explode in November or December, the person who will win that tender will sink so badly that it will take two generations to be able to raise it back up again.

Just like the new prison project, or as the village roads tender won by Taşyapı now, or just as the Siyah Kalem Company, which came to build the football field, will sink. In other words, this is a system that is used all over the world. Why is this persistently not deemed worthy of our contractor?”

“STOP THE LIE ABOUT ‘TURKEY DOESN’T WANT IT'”

Cafer Gürcafer also emphasized that the subject is open to abuse. Gürcafer, “’Turkey does not want it’.! There is no such thing.! Stop this lie.! It is an issue that our officials did not deal with and insisted on ignoring pointlessly. If we cannot solve this issue in a few days, it will negatively affect all tenders in the upcoming period.”

“EVEN A TORTOISE IS FASTER THAN US IN PUBLIC TENDERS”

The situation in public tenders; CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer, summarizing with his statement, “Even a tortoise is faster than us” said: “We; to the contractors, we do not say ‘don’t’, we do not say ‘it is forbidden to participate in tenders’, but they cannot, they cannot take this risk, it is not possible. To summarize the situation in public tenders; even a tortoise is faster than us.

The Central Tender Commission (MIK) is in another place, the Planning and Construction Department is in another world, the Highways Department is in another place, the officials of the Ministry of Finance are yet in another place, we are in somewhere else. We are disconnected from each other. What is needed is to gather around a round table, come to a decision, and implement that decision. We have not participated in public tenders, for perhaps, more than a year. However, this is an issue that can be resolved in 24 hours. Nothing was comprehended; Mr. Prime Minister last said, “Come here tomorrow afternoon at this time”, we attended and Mr. Prime Minister chaired that meeting, we reached an agreement there. But another regulation has passed.”

“WE HAVE RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC. THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM THAT CAN BE SHELVED”

He said that it is stated as ‘local resources will be given to local tenders’ in the ‘Principles and Procedures (Amendment) Regulation to be Applied in Construction Works Tenders’, but that 95 percent of the tenders are already sourced from the Turkish Republic.

“What sort of an approach is this.!? What are we trying to prove in front of the public?” Gürcafer said, “This is a problem and we need to solve it and move on. This is not an issue that can be shelved. This is our responsibility to the public.’’

‘’The Manager of BRTK, Meryem Özkurt, called me the other day and said, ‘The roof is leaking, the devices are being damaged, many tenders have been issued, no one bids. Please help us,’. The contractor will not do it. Who does work at a loss? ‘I will give you 3 TL, you find 10 TL and go do it for 13 TL.!’ What kind of an approach is this and what kind of an expectation? The state should be a guide, a contributor and create incentive.”

“WE ARE LOSSING TIME”           

Stating that every lost day causes great damage, CTBCA President Gürcafer said: “Alsancak road is currently out on tender. Tar is the most important raw material in road construction. TÜPRAŞ has a price, which is indexed to foreign currency. It is also indexed to the price of a barrel of oil. You won this tender, then the dollar increases by 30 percent, how will it be done? Another important input is fuel. What will happen to me when there is a hike in the cost of fuel tomorrow? I will have to leave the job halfway. Turkey solved this problem. She says, ‘If there is a rise, I will pay, you go do your job’.’’

‘’Unfortunately, the TRNC is very hesitant about this issue. Frankly, I am very upset about this, because it is a waste of time and we feel like we are wasting our energy. We have more than 10 works that we have undertaken.’’

‘’CTBCA took responsibility for the construction of the elderly care home in Lapta. It has a cost of close to 20 million and we are funding it out of our pocket, supported entirely with donations. We are working on zoning plans. We have ongoing work on the law. We are working on border gates. There are articles in the construction regulations that allow for the blatant abuse of the rights of others, eliminate equality of opportunity among contractors, and create inequity and injustice. We tried, but it is cast aside. There are hundreds of other problems, but if we could not conclude the work on a price difference application for more than a year, how will we solve the problems of this country, how will the country breathe easy again?’’

‘’At this rate, we cannot overcome these issues. We need to hold a workshop about saving the future of this country with the participation of the appropriate human resources that we have in this country. But not just to say ‘we held a workshop’, it is necessary to respect the final declaration of this workshop and start from somewhere.”

“WE HAVE MANY TINY FIEFDOMS”

CTBCA President Cafer Gürcafer once again underlined that the rulers and cadres of the country should agree on how the country would be saved, what the priorities are, and that they should work overtime at this juncture.

Stating that we are in a constant state of confusion and chaos, Gürcafer said: “The Government, the ministers and the staff under them, the bureaucrats… this needs to be remoulded in a vision, and the perspective needs to be altered.  If there are 20 undersecretaries in the State, 10 ministers, 1 prime minister, and 40 general managers under them, this team should have the same perspective on how this country would be saved and what the priorities ought to be. We have many tiny fiefdoms. Everyone is more concerned about exhibiting a self-serving behaviour.’’

We are constantly bubbling in a mess, in a chaos. We have a wealth of human resources in this country. Unfortunately, our entrenched system constantly prevents us from utilising these human resources correctly. This entrenched culture prevents it. This reality drags us to the bottom even more.”

“FORMATION OF THE ENERGY UNIT IS A MUST”

Mentioning the necessity of establishing an Energy Supreme Board in the country, Gürcafer said, “What we need to do to move forward is clear. We need an Energy Supreme Board supported by scientists.”

While the world is competing in an incredible race in every topic, Cafer Gürcafer said that the TRNC is far behind this respect and concluded his words as follows:

“I can now compete with Turkey, Greece and Belgium in the construction sector, but in order for me to compete with them, I must be at a point where I can meet some contemporary needs. For example, I can’t build smart homes right now because the law prevents me. For this, an energy unit must be formed.

We need an energy unit supported by scientists. That’s what the business world says. Let’s set up the Energy Supreme Board, determine the country’s energy policies and develop the country’s energy policies.  But we are not doing anything. Ministers, the honourable Prime Minister are all very well-intentioned. But goodwill alone does not get us anywhere. It is necessary to be honest and well-intentioned, but we need the unit, the planning, the right economic and social policies. We need to determine the current situation; to determine what we will do to step up gradually. We are the people of this country and I have the potential to create job opportunities for all my companies. However, time is running out. Our people are at the point of making a decision. They are leaving the country.”