The textile ministry has advised the Sui Northern Gas Company Ltd (SNGPL) to supply 20 mmcfd gas each to export-oriented textile units in Faisalabad and Lahore immediately to ensure smooth functioning of the sector. The textile ministry had convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the energy crisis amid the worst power and gas load shedding in the country.
The Textile Minister Farook Saeed Khan, Federal Advisor on Textile Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig and secretaries from respective ministries besides the central sector leadership of textile industry attended the meeting. Sources in textile ministry informed, the SNGPL was pursued actively to ensure 50 mmcfd each to textile units in Faisalabad and Lahore, which was not agreed later on owing to system problems.
The SNGPL authorities informed the meeting that both the Qadir Pur Gasfield and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGPL) failed to meet their commitment to provide 40 mmcfd and 60 mmcfd gas, respectively during load shedding in Punjab. The SSGPL supplied the promised quantity of gas to Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) and Qadir Pur Gasfield. Therefore, said the sources, the SNGPL assured the textile minister of supplying 20 mmcfd gas each to export-oriented units in Faisalabad and Lahore in next few days.
It may be noted that both the textile minister and Federal Advisor on Textile were hopeful in their November 28 meeting in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh to ensure 100 mmcfd gas to export-oriented units in Faisalabad and Lahore after string of riots in Faisalabad where textile units remained closed down for 22 days. The exporters there had also no option but to ship their supplies by air, costing millions of dollars to the industry.