Chairman of All Pakistan Handloom & traditional Textiles Manufacturers and Exporters Association (APHTTMEA), Syed Muhammad Aasim Shah has urged President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to continue concession in the name of research and development for exporters so that cost of business could be curtailed.
Talking to newsmen on Thursday he said that this facility must be continued for next four years because taxation rate and ERF is higher in Pakistan than other countries. He said that loadshedding of natural gas and electricity was having negative effect on economy. Hundreds of industrial units had been shut and millions of workers had become jobless.
He said that tackling of the loadshedding issue by the government is imperative to save the industrial sector from complete destruction. He said hundreds of industrial units have been closed due to energy shortage but the government was not interested in overcoming the energy crisis, lamented Shah. He said that the textile industry that has more than 60 percent share in country's export, 27 percent in industrial value addition and 38 percent in sector employment is under serious threat due to ongoing outages. He pointed that the exporters were unable to meet their export orders. He advised the government to enhance use of hydel resources by building water reservoirs and power generation units. He said that Germany is producing more than 21000 MW and India 7000 MW power through wind energy.