Textile is undoubtedly the National Industry No 1 of Pakistan which has provided self-sufficiency in dress and apparel to the teeming millions of its domestic consumers on one hand besides producing quality fabrics, garments and other value-added products worth billions of dollars for the international market, providing job opportunities to millions in the sectors of agriculture, industry and commerce.
But this industry has been subjected to a serious and unprecedented crisis. There is no gainsaying the fact, therefore, this is the need of the hour to evolve a positive, balanced and pragmatic policy to consolidate the overall Textile Policy.
These ideas were expressed by All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (Aptpma) Chairman Muhammad Saeed Sheikh while talking to media persons. He reiterated that whereas the first major step in the development of the "Silver Fiber" is ginning, it is imperative that our agriculture scientists make it a point to prepare super quality contamination-free seeds for the farmer. Likewise, the ginners too would be well-advised to equip their ginneries with sophisticated machinery.
Saeed Sheikh said the next important stage after ginning is ''spinning'', which is being adequately looked after by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma). But as a sequel to a number of negative causative factors, the spinning sector has been infested with a serious and unprecedented crisis which has adversely affected almost all the allied sectors, eg, textile processing, cotton fashion apparel manufacturing, commercial exporters of textiles, towel manufacturers and exporters, hosiery manufacturers and exporters, etc, and triggered a chain reaction therein which has virtually incapacitated the overall textile industry, he added.
The problems which have been highlighted by Aptma in its appeal to President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz include (i) Ever-increasing cost of electricity, (ii) High rate of bank mark-up, (iii) Tariff Anomalies, and (iv) Short supply of cotton.
Consequential to these negative factors, the production and export of textile products has receded considerably and quite a few textile mills and factories have been constrained to close down, very much to the detriment of our national economy.
He has appealed for rationalisation of power tariff and bank mark-up rates, zero-rating of taxes and bringing them at par with those prevailing in our neighbouring countries.
Likewise, the Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association has contended that the textile manufacturers and exporters of adjoining competitor countries have been allowed lucrative incentives which has forced our member units to resort to down-sizing and forced closure. They have appealed to the government to provide them level playing field. They have also appealed for enhancement of R & D Support facility from 6 to 10 percent, he added. While dwelling at some length over the specific grievances and problems faced by the textile processing sector, Saeed Sheikh suggested the following:
(a) To ensure adequate supply of basic inputs eg, electricity, gas and water;
(b) Rationalisation of utility bills which would curtail our cost of production and augment our national export drive;
(c) Enter into joint ventures with reputed multinationals (MNCs) for the production of textile machinery and chemicals, and;
(d) Subsidising the construction of community-based water- treatment plants.
He said another festering grievance of the textile processing sector is the excessive incidence of unscheduled loadshedding which has brought down our production to the rock-bottom. He suggested that Wapda and the KESC should be advised to refrain from unscheduled loadshedding and try to control line losses. Instead of taking recourse to loadshedding, they should take all the major industrial consumers into confidence and devise a fool-proof schedule of ''load-management''.
In respect of long-term planning, he called upon the government to switch over to construction of Kalabagh dam and other hydel projects on war footing. The Aptpma chief expressed satisfaction over the establishment of a full-fledged Ministry of Textile Industry, and posting a textile tycoon of the caliber of Mushtaq Ali Cheema at the helm of affairs.