Textile industry circles have criticised the government for not meeting energy requirements despite repeated commitments from quarters concerned. An APTMA delegation had called on President Asif Ali Zardari during his recent visit to Lahore where both the minister for water and power and minister for petroleum had assured about exempting textile industry from load-shedding on independent feeders and five days a week gas supply from Monday onwards.
However, as of now, neither the gas supply has improved nor exemption has been extended on independent feeders. They lamented that the gas supply to textile industry's captive power plants (CPPs) was still restricted to four days a week. The federal petroleum minister, they said, had promised to provide gas five days a week to the textile industry.
According to the industry circles, 80% of textile industry was on the SNGPL network and majority of the industry was meeting energy requirements through CPPs. But a continuous shortage of gas supply has put some 40% of textile industry capacity non-functional, causing huge export losses and massive layoffs. The government's credibility was at stake so far as fulfillment of commitments of energy supply to textile industry was concerned, they added.
The industry circles urged the government to prioritise textile industry growth in its energy policy. He also appealed to the President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to take personal interest in resolving energy related problems of textile industry without any further delay.
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