The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Chairman Adil Bashir has said that frequent power outages and low gas pressure are causing production losses to mills.
The APTMA member mills are facing serious issues of power fluctuations and unannounced load shedding over the last few weeks. Similarly, they are confronted with a serious issue of extremely low gas pressure for the last one month. Already, he said, the member mills are facing supply interruptions of furnace oil, which is of paramount importance for the textile industry dependent on HFO for Captive Power Plants (CPPs) operations and various manufacturing processes such as dyeing, drying, and heating, etc.
He said the member mills are unable to continue production which is fraught with risks of further affecting the smooth supply for export orders. Repeated requests of member mills to get the issue resolved at local levels have resulted in an exercise in futility.
He said the government of Pakistan has always reiterated its resolve to provide uninterrupted electricity and gas supply to five export-oriented zero-rated sectors.
This decision of the government is in conformity with its commitment to foster exports and earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. The need for a continuous supply of electricity and gas without any fluctuation and low pressure especially at this critical junction, when the exports of the country have started recovering after they plummeted to the lowest ebb in April 20 due to COVID-19.
He said the export industry of the country is committed to maximise productivity to produce exportable surplus but their efforts are frustrated due to frequent fluctuations in load and power interruptions besides low gas pressure, which has made it impossible to even operate the mills.