Aptma demands equitable energy supply

LAHORE: Demanding equitable distribution of gas and electricity, chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Punjab) Shahzad Ali Khan said textile industry is fighting for its survival due to inequitable energy supply.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, he said the industry got gas for only three days in December and remained deprived of power supply for 10 days in last fortnight. He said what pained the industry most was the flawed priorities of the government in supply of electricity.

He said gas shortages look genuine in current low temperatures. The industry, he added, is highly indebted to the advisor to the prime minister on petroleum and natural resources Dr Asim for the support he extended to the industries in Punjab that saved the day for them.

He said some vested interests do not like the prudent approach of the advisor that gave preference to the job providing productive sector over its luxurious use in cars.

Unfortunately, he added the power sector planners got their priorities skewed and deprived the large scale manufacturers of electricity for almost 10 days, affecting lives of 500,000 daily wagers. He said power to this sector was restored on the intervention of the prime minister who ordered at least 16 hours power supply. He regretted that power is being supplied only for 12 hours, as besides 8 hours scheduled outage the power suppliers have resorted to unscheduled power suspensions daily.

Central chairman Aptma said that the planners should realise that exports of the country are directly linked to the availability of water and energy. He said out of 4 billion cubic feet per day gas available in the system the textile industry requires only 500 mmcfd to achieve export target of $15 billion. He said the power sector needs 500 mmcfd gas that would bring down the domestic power bills by 50 percent. “If the same gas is supplied to compressed natural gas it would benefit a few car owners at the expense of millions of electricity consumers who would have to bear the brunt of power produced from expensive alternatives,” he added.

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