Karachi industries: Prime Minister urged to direct SSGC to ensure smooth supply of gas

Chief Coordinator, Karachi Industrial Forum (KIF), Muhammad Jawad Bilwani has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to direct Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to ensure uninterrupted supply to industries in Karachi.

The government action will save them against production losses and closures and enable them to enhance their production by 14.28 percent leading to increase in exports by 8 percent, generate employment, fetch foreign exchange, create trade surplus and raise GDP.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Bilwani said, "It is an irony that textile export industries of Karachi which contribute 54 percent to textile exports & 57 percent overall exports is starving for the most essential raw material - indigenous gas due to weekly gas closures and low gas pressure. It is most unfortunate that the situation of gas supply to textile export industries is worsening which cast disastrous effects on export consignments.

Export production has been crippled as industries remained without gas leading to non-fulfillment of export commitments/orders.

He said the government has accorded priority to export sectors, including textile in terms of gas supply but the gas utility is not providing gas to the industries 24/7. It has been observing current weekly one-day industrial gas holiday for all industrial consumers including export industries for last several years whereby the production of export industries halts and textile export sector has been compelled to work only six days a week. In regional countries and worldwide the competing export industries operate 24/7. Percentage-wise the impact of one day gas holiday every Sunday is equal to 14.28 percent (100/7), which means there is 14.28 percent production loss every week while the impact will be 8 percent on national exports.

On one hand the industries have been deprived of gas due to weekly gas holiday and on the other, the gas utility is providing new connections to domestic consumers."

"We have also learnt that SSGC is planning to extend this one day gas holiday to three days in a week during winter season which will cast disastrous effects on the very industry."

"Your good-self can imagine how can exports be enhanced, GDP increased and trade balance/surplus created when export-oriented sectors are deprived of gas," Bilwani maintained.