Cheap gas, electricity to be provided to textile industry

FAISALABAD: State Minister for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan on Monday said that gas prices would be further decreased for textile industry to reduce cost of production to maximum extent.

Addressing a meeting at All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) here, the state minister said the government had planned to provide electricity at rate of Rs.7 per unit to textile industries besides introducing weighted average price of RLNG across the country.

He said that owners of textile units had to go in refund claims system due to imposition of sales tax on coal if they used it during gas shortage. Therefore, the government was considering a proposal to launch easy process of zero rated coal for textile industry to save it from additional burden of sales tax refund claims, he added.

The state minister further said that Faisalabad Airport had witnessed heavy rush of air passengers as this was not only third largest city of Pakistan but also textile capital. Therefore, expansion of Faisalabad Airport was need of the hour so that at least three flights could land at a time in addition to facilitate 118 fights in a week here, he added.

Earlier, Chairman APTPMA Sheikh Khalid Habib in his welcome address said that due to high energy cost, textile business was being shifted from Pakistan to India, China and Bangladesh which also caused substantial decrease in textile exports of the country. He demanded immediate payment of refund claims in addition to provision of cheap gas and electricity for textile industry.

APTPMA members Mian Aftab Ahmad, Engineer Rizwan Ashraf and Engineer Ehtisham Javaid also addressed.