PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) on Tuesday rejected the decision of the federal cabinet committee on energy (CCoE) to place moratorium on the supply of gas to textile units for self-generation of electricity.
The decision was made at a meeting here on Tuesday with Salim Saifullah Khan in the chair.
The meeting rejected the CCoE decision to curtail the supply of gas to the export-oriented textile industry and divert the gas supply to the IPPs for power generation.
The KPTMA urged Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, the federal energy minister, the PM’s special assistant, the chief minister’s adviser on energy & power and the provincial chief secretary to intervene to resolve the issue.
The association also stressed the need for taking up the issue with the Council of Common Interest.
Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Salim Saifullah showed his serious concerns over the adverse effects of the decision on textile industry, and asked government to review it. He urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to intervene in the matter, otherwise the mills would close down their operations, and large scale workers would lose jobs.
He warned the government that such unsolicited decision would result in high cost of production, unemployment, loss of investment and decline in export of textile products.
He further said it would also be a challenge for the government to provide uninterrupted electricity to the industry as available grid stations were already overloaded.
Mr Saifullah said shifting of manufacturing units to Wapda electricity was also not possible on such short notice. He suggested the government in consultation with stakeholders devise some workable plan if implementation of the decision was necessary.
Source: The Dawn, Pakistan Wednesday, 03 February 2021