A delegation from Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, German Embassy, KFW, Bank of Germany and GIZ, visited APTMA Punjab office on Friday. Members Steering Committee on Sustainable Production Centre (SPC) APTMA, Seth Muhammad Akbar, Syed Ahsan Ali and Shahid Faraz welcomed the delegation at the APTMA office.
Secretary APTMA Punjab, Anis-ul-Haq made a detailed presentation on the APTMA and the SPC to the visiting delegation. He said the image problem and the energy shortage are two major challenges of textile industry in Pakistan, losing $10 billion opportunity in last seven years while the regional competitors were growing during the same.
Briefing about the SPC, running in collaboration with the GIZ, a German firm, he said 42 mills have so far been approached by the SPC, saving 10MW energy in general. The SPC was established in 2008. It has a potential to save 268MW of energy through implementation of Energy Management System (EnMS). Presently the APTMA members are saving Rs 395 million with an implementation cost around Rs 65 million.
The objective of the SPC is to provide technical and management services to the APTMA members on energy security, affordability, conservation, health, safety & environment (SHE), CSR and renewable energy. He said 90 percent of the member mills are keen for EnMS. Majority of them want energy management training in renewable energy, which is an untapped area and the study of a project is finalised through the courtesy of GIZ. Further, there is lot of potential for solar energy, wind power, small hydro, bio mass and geothermal energy.
On the way forward, he said, it is very clear and the APTMA would like to see the specialised credit lines on energy efficiency and renewable energy for the member mills. The visiting delegation appreciated the efforts made by the GIZ in helping out the textile industry in energy management. It further hoped that things would be streamlined further once the country completes the election process ahead.