Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has expressed grave concerns over the worst energy crisis, aggregating day by day in the export-oriented city of Multan. It said that the unending prolonged power and gas outages have badly affected industrial production in South Punjab industries, due to which thousands of workers are getting jobless in Multan.
It revealed that most of South Punjab factories have already closed their two out of total three production and working shifts, while the third one has also been badly affected by 18-hour long unscheduled load-shedding of power and gas daily.
Kh. Jalaluddin Roomi, chairman All Pakistan Bedsheet & Upholstery Manufacturers Association (APBUMA) strongly rejected the hike in POL prices, adding that this raise would badly affect power and gas supply and ultimately, export industries.
Talking to the newsmen here Sunday, he feared that increase in POL prices would bring a new deadly flood of price hike in the country. Terming the decision a bomb for the export industry, he said the hike would ruin SMEs-based industry of Multan. He added that the decision seems a conspiracy against the government, and would prove a cut throat for the industrial sector, which is already striving for its survival due to unending load-shedding of electricity and gas.
Roomi further said that this hike in POL prices would also increase cost of doing business and production. He observed that it has become very hard for the exporters to stay in competition in international trade markets against other countries producing cheaper export products than Pakistan.
He said that the situation has become unbearable for the industrial sector as foreign buyers are cancelling export orders worth millions of rupees daily, as exporters are unable to timely dispatch their products due to prolonged suspension of power and gas supply. The situation is also causing a big decline in exports. He said foreign buyers are diverting their orders to other countries and warned that this situation could prove a setback for national economy.
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