The unprecedented, exorbitant and most unjustified price hike in Gas Tariff, more particularly for Captive Power Plants hurt Export Oriented Textile and Value Added Knitwear Sector which is already reeling and heavily burdened with the high costs of doing business and will lead to total collapse and disaster of this foreign exchange earning industry, stated M Jawed Bilwani, Chairman, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA).
He said that actually the Government is required to provide Power at reasonable rates but the industry has been compelled to invest huge amounts in their own Captive Power Plants for supply of Power which is most essential to run the industry.
As it is, this huge investment in Captive Power Plants is a burden for this Export Oriented foreign exchange earning industry, OGRA with this unjustified hike in Gas Tariff on Captive Power Plants seems to be breaking the backbone of the industry. He said that it was indeed an irony and most astonishing that gas tariff for Captive Power Plants is 22 percent higher than the tariff of Wapda and KESC and 40 percent higher than that charged to IPPs. He wondered as to what was the reason for this discrimination.
He said that in view of the most difficult times faced by this industry the government should have ensured much lower tariff for the Captive Power Plants installed at huge costs by this Textile Sector.
The Textile Sector which generates massive gender employment which would ultimately result in complete closure of all Textile Units, final end of all textile exports leading to mass unemployment, total chaos, disaster and ruin which will be indeed impossible for the government to resuscitate from imminent death of the Textile Exporting Sector.
Jawed Bilwani therefore, appealed to the Prime Minister, Co-Chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, Finance Minister, Commerce/Textile Minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources to immediately reconsider and withdraw this sharp increase in gas tariff for Captive Power Plants to save this dying Textile Sector on Top Priority basis.-PR
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