Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) has rebuffed the new 108 hour per week gas-shedding schedule announced by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).
Chaudhry Salamat Ali, Ex-Chairman PHMA, said the new schedule effective from October 25, would prove to be fatal, mainly for Punjab textile industry, which is already grappling against several issues like high mark-up rates and unfriendly business environment.
Mr. Chaudhry noted that about 40 percent of the industrial undertakings, with majority of them being in textile sector in Punjab, use gas as a mode of energy and such long hours of gas-shedding would not only halt production process of almost 50 percent of the gas-based industry, but would also result in a heavy loss of foreign exchange earnings coming from exports.
He sought the President and Prime Minister's help and intervention for ensuring continuous gas supply to the country's textile industry.
During an interaction with media, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) President, Mian Zahid Aslam called on the Government to urgently restore gas supply to Faisalabad's industries. Otherwise, he said, it would lead to stagnation of entire production process, mainly of the textile industry, which is already battling for existence.
He further informed that owing to power shortage, industries in Faisalabad, mainly those in the textile sector, were already facing production crunch and were operating at 30 percent of their actual capacities.
The new gas-shedding schedule by SNGPL would force several units to close down and affect the entire industrial cycle, he added.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=117383
