The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) spokesman has rebuffed the report of Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW), appeared in a section of press which carrying a false and baseless impression that influential lobby of the owners of Captive Power Plants (CPPs) is one of the biggest hurdle in resolving energy crisis in the country.
He said the report released by the PEW is entirely baseless. The fact of the matter is that most of the CPPs were installed under the Energy Policy 2005, to avoid energy shortage and to ensure a interruption free electricity supply in order to save the installed machinery and continue with production activities. Also, he said, the priority list is duly approved by the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the federal government, a fact blatantly concealed by the PEW. APTMA believes that the industry and its captive power should be the first and not third on the priority list and it will defend its case on every forum for the prosperity of the people of Pakistan, as everything will be doomed if the industrial wheel will be stopped. The government and its power plants have failed to provide electricity to the domestic and industrial consumers because of the inefficient GENCOs and distribution system and the only way for the industry to survive is to get seven days per week uninterrupted gas supply to its Captive Power Plants all over the country till the government resolves the electricity theft and efficiency issues of GENCOs consuming Rs 93 billion of furnace oil and gas against Rs 53 billion recovery per month.
Further to put the record straight, it is worth mentioning that the textile industry CPPs consumes hardly 170MMCFD on the SNGPL network, which is already facing shortage leading to supply suspension for 210 days so far during the current fiscal year.
Also, APTMA has had never encouraged gas-based supply of electricity to the network and it has repeatedly condemned it before all relevant forums. It is a matter of record that the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) has already proposed a priority to the industry on gas supply.
The Planning Commission has also endorsed the recommendation of the FoDP. It is an undeniable fact that every country puts industry on priority whenever shortage of natural resources allocation takes place, which is not only a prudent approach but also in line with the economic use of the natural resource, he added.
It is highly unfortunate that this controversial, baseless report has no idea about the significance of the industry, particularly the textile industry. He said the textile industry earns $13 billion foreign exchange, employs 38 percent of the manufacturing sector workforce and contributes 9 percent to the GDP that comes around 10.5 percent if 1.5 percent contribution of cotton is also taken into account.
APTMA spokesman has said that the industry and its association would keep lobbying in the larger interest of the country, which is not a crime by any means. He has therefore negated the impression that of creating any hurdle in resolving energy crisis and added that the industry, in fact, is consuming electricity direct from the independent feeders at zero line losses and pay 100 percent of the utility bills.
Similar approach is adopted for payments against gas consumption, which can be verified from the utility agencies, as there is hardly any UFG on the part of the industry.
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