LAHORE  - Appreciating the assurance of importing LNG by coming November on war footing basis by the Chief Minister, the Punjab industry has expressed the hope that it would mitigate the energy constraints of the Punjab-based textile industry.
It further appreciated the initiatives including solar, coal and fast track import of LNG and said all these steps will overcome energy constraints of textile industry.
Chairman APTMA Punjab S M Tanveer said the approval of APTMA’s energy formula has eased down the energy constraints of Punjab-bases textile industry to a certain extent and the industry was highly grateful to him.  According to him, the industry has chalked out a vision of doubling the textile exports to $26 billion from $13 billion in five years but plans of further investment are yet pending due to energy constraints. Already, the Punjab-based textile mills are incurring Rs72 billion additional cost per annum due to inter-provincial energy cost differential, he added.  He said the energy constraints have incapacitated about 30 percent of the manufacturing units in Punjab, hampering growth in employment generation. Availability of LNG as a source of energy to the industry will bring new investment and new jobs, he added. S M Tanveer has said that the announcement of importing LNG by the Chief Minister Punjab is a positive omen and the industry welcomes it.