By MANDEEP SINGH

MANAMA

SMALL contracting companies who depend on cheap labour will be hit the hardest following a government decision to ban Bangladeshis from working in Bahrain, industry officials said yesterday.

The ban will certainly have an impact on ongoing construction projects, but the smaller contractors will suffer more, said Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) contractors committee chairman Samir Nass.

“There are many contractors who rely on the cheap labour from Bangladesh. They would obviously feel the impact more,” said Mr Nass.

He said the ban comes at a time when manpower is already in short supply, while scores of projects face delays for reasons ranging from shortage of cement, sand, steel and aggregate, bottlenecks on the King Fahad Causeway and demands of increased wages from several sections of workers.

“We hope a mechanism is put in place whereby the ban would be done in a way that minimises the impact on ongoing projects,” he said.

He said that the ban order was wrong, but added that the incident that triggered it was ghastly and should be condemned by everyone.

“One does not go around cutting someone’s head with a grinder, whatever the provocation is,” he said, referring to an incident where Bahraini Mohammed Jassim Dossary was killed after an argument at a workshop on Friday.

Mr Nass said the ban is not the answer.

“The whole community cannot be targeted for the deed of one man,” he said.