Inefficient load management by the gas company has damaged the export base of textile industry incurring loss of 80 million dollars in foreign exchange for the country, said Adil Manzoor Ellahi, Acting Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association while talking to newsmen here on Friday.
The gas load management is highly discriminatory, he said adding that instead of shutting down the industry for six days a week, the gas company should have rotated the supply equally among the provinces of the country.
Furthermore, the gas company should have borrowed gas from southern gas company to minimise the shortage and low pressure, he said. Pakistan is currently facing about 600 mmcf gas shortfall and during peak hours the gap between demand and supply reaches 900 mmcf, this severe energy crisis in Pakistan has enormous negative impact on country's economic development, he added.
The acting chairman was of the view that serious trouble lies ahead for industrial and commercial sectors unless the shortage of gas is addressed. He said that the output of the industrial sector declined sharply owing to electricity and gas shortages. With continuous loadshedding of gas and electricity impeding industrial growth, sky-rocketing prices of electricity and gas, textile exporters are finding it increasingly hard to run their businesses, he opined.
The gas shortage in conjunction with electricity shortage has forced a large number of industries and small and medium enterprises to close down. Thousands of daily wage earners are facing another dilemma as gas supply was suspended to industrial units, he added. He further said that this problem has resulted in the loss of more than 300,000 jobs and is inflicting on the industrial sector alone an annual loss of millions of dollars.
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