Export-based textile industries in Faisalabad are facing severe electricity load shedding crisis, spanning to over 15 hours per day, plunging the industrial productivity and fear of default on export orders.
This was pointed out by Wasim Latif, chairman and Adil Manzoor Ellahi, vice chairman, of Pakistan Textile Exporters Association while talking to newsmen here on Sunday.
Criticising the unscheduled and arbitrary forced load shedding, they said that the unprecedented and irregular electricity load shedding for textile industry was playing havoc as the supply was cut down hour by hour. In this unannounced and ever-changing shutdown, the raw material, the coarse cloth, the print colours and semi-finished textiles are damaged, causing millions of rupees loss to the manufacturers and exporters and the production program of the mills is totally disrupted and the productivity has been reduced. They said that if this severe load shedding continued, not only the industry would be ruined but textile exports would also come to a halt.
Chairman Wasim said that growing energy shortages for the manufacturing was impeding industrial growth and could lead to substantial production, job and export losses. "How can any industry survive and stay in business unless it gets constant and smooth supply of electricity and gas?" he asked. The economy is already reeling under the massive economic losses, he added.
He warned that energy crunch is just increasing the economic difficulties. If it is not tackled on war footing, it is going to hamper industrial production, result in massive job losses and knock down the weak national economy. "Perhaps the policy makers don't realise that it is crucial to keep the wheel of the industry running. If they did, they wouldn't subject the industry, especially the export-oriented sectors, to such a rough treatment he said. The electricity and gas shortages are forcing us to a situation where we will be forced to shut down our plants, lay off workers, stop paying loans to the banks and come out on to streets for our rights," he said.
"The government is not realising that the future of industry has been put at stake due to failure to address energy shortages for the industry," he said.
Vice Chairman Adil Manzoor said that energy crisis was increasing the cost of doing business and making exports from the country more expensive. The export-oriented industry must be preferred over all other gas and power consumers so that the economy does not suffer and jobs are protected he said. Adil said that due to electricity and gas shortage in the country, industry has already suffered a loss of billions of rupees annually large numbers of workers have lost their jobs. He said that if this problem was not resolved on emergent basis, all efforts of entrepreneurs to promote industrialisation and job creation will prove fruitless.
He said that there were many options for the government to cope with the energy crisis and one of these was to go for nuclear power generation. He said today, there is a world-wide trend of nuclear power generation because of uncertain oil prices. Adil stressed that government should encourage the private sector to come forward and play a proactive role in the development of renewable energy by utilising wind, solar and other renewable energy sources for overcoming the energy insecurity.
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