RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Punjab APTMA Chairman S M Tanveer has appealed to the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, to save the province-based textile industry from collapse by providing 24/7 energy supply to the mills.

He said his recent meetings with the Punjab Chief Minister as well as Federal Minister for Textile Industry Abbas Khan Afridi were quite positive and he was fully confident about positive outcome of meetings sooner than later to ensure smooth operations of textile mills in Punjab.

S M Tanveer said the contribution of Punjab towards the national GDP was substantially crucial. He said the growth and development of Punjab-based textile industry has a significant bearing on provincial as well as federal economy.

Importance of the textile industry in Punjab can be measured from the fact that more than 66 percent cotton is being produced in Punjab. Besides, 70 percent spinning mills, 54 percent weaving and an organised power loom industry, 60 percent processing, both in organised and un-organised sectors, and 50 percent knitting units are located in Punjab, he said.

According to him, the gas supply suspension for 18 hours a day has affected textile industry production badly, resulting in massive lay off of workforce and an uncertain future investment scenario. He said there was an urgent need for extending the period of gas supply to industry in Punjab and removing inter-province disparity in gas supply. He said the mills in Punjab have also been exposed to 8-hour a day electricity loadshedding besides unannounced loadshedding spells, making the mills to incur heavy losses.

S M Tanveer said the potential export of Punjab-based textile mills with $ 3 billion has already impaired. Only an arrangement of 24/7 energy supply can enable the mills in Punjab to utilize optimum capacity for increasing exports to EU under the GSP plus facility.