Stating that textile constitutes a major part of Pakistan’s exports, the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has called on the Government to expedite its efforts to resolve the power crunch, as the energy crisis would not allow the country to achieve targeted export growth.
PTEA Chairman Asghar Ali said continuous and adequate gas supply is imperative for the country’s textile industry to sustain production and urged the Government to provide gas on a priority basis to the textile industry.
He added that the gas supply remained suspended for 180 days during last year, which compelled the textile industry to cut or suspend its production, which also led to a loss of employment.
Industry’s incapacity, which is mainly due to power crisis, also led to a 30 percent fall in textile exports, which plummeted from US$ 13.788 billion in 2010-11 to US$ 12.356 billion during last fiscal, he said.
Stating that power supply and economic development are interconnected and gas outages are impeding the country’s industrial growth, the PTEA chief said there could be several options to domestic and compressed natural gas (CNG) requirements, but there are none for jobs and investments.
He said in the present economic situation, Government is expected to initiate steps to protect millions of jobs and to ensure smooth functioning of the textile industry in the country.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=116851
