All Pakistan Textile Mills (APTMA) Punjab has requested the federal government to amend gas allocation formula after seeking consent from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) as the textile industry in Punjab is facing a Rs 82 billion financial loss due to intra-province disparity.
A delegation of APTMA Punjab led by its Chairman S. M. Tanveer held a detailed meeting with Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali and Prime Minister's Advisor on Energy, Musadak Malik on Tuesday. APTMA Punjab argued that industry in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa is being supplied gas 24 hours a day whereas textile industry in Punjab is getting gas only for 8 hours per day.
The delegation also raised the issue of power load shedding ranging from 9-10 hours per day and its impact on textile industry especially on those units which do not have the facility of gas-fired Captive Power Plants (CPPs). According to the Association, at least 58 textile units exist in Punjab which operate only on electricity and prolonged load shedding is hurting their production. The requirement of these textile units is only 135 MW.
When contacted S. M. Tanveer, Chairman APTMA Punjab, said that they discussed the issues of Punjab-based textile industry with Abid Sher Ali and sought his help to resolve these issues on a priority basis. In reply to a question, he said if there is any discrepancy in allocation of natural resources, this should be sorted out at the level of CCI.
"We have presented our submissions to the Minister of State for Water and Power with the hope that the government will sympathetically consider our request so that the Punjab-based textile industry can be saved from a shutdown," Tanveer added. Prime Minister's Advisor on Energy, Dr Musadak Malik, told Business Recorder that the Minister of State was apprised of the two issues facing the Punjab-based textile sector; however, he did not make any commitment to resolve these issues immediately as power crisis will further worsen as summer sets in. "The APTMA delegation has been told that efforts will be made to minimize power supply issues of textile sector but it has been clearly communicated to them that we will not make any commitment in an irresponsible manner," said Dr Musadak Malik.