APTMA hails Lesco's decision of appointing focal person

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Amir Fayyaz has welcomed the announcement of appointment of a focal person in LESCO to solve the textile industry issues on priority. LESCO Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Wajid Ali Kazmi made this announcement during his visit to the APTMA Punjab office on Friday.
He directed his Director Customers to appoint a focal person in LESCO and solve the textile industry issues on priority. Amir Fayyaz has also sought support from the distribution companies (DISCOs) on APTMA's proposals to the government to reduce energy cost in order to increase exports by $20 billion by installing 1000 new factories in next five years. He said a trade gap of $15 billion can only be met through increase in exports of the country.
He stressed that a solution to this problem is to increase export earnings to pay off imports bill. "We have demanded withdrawal of electricity surcharges from independent feeders," he said, adding: "Rs 3.63 per unit surcharge should be removed from the export sector."
On the electricity side, he said, the industry is being charged around Rs 10.50 per unit and our competitors are being charged Rs 7 to 8 per kWh. "We are demanding a regionally competitive energy tariff," he stressed. He also said APTMA has put forward a roadmap for increase in exports by $20 billion through setting up 1000 factories in next five years.
Earlier, Chairman APTMA Punjab Ali Pervaiz said the industry is all set to shift to system network provided that DISCOs ensure uninterrupted quality power supply to the industry at an affordable tariff. He said LESCO has to entertain and resolve issues concerning to reconnection and new connections to the industry on priority.
Also, he added, since textile industry consumes operates 24/7 and consumes electricity for 365 days therefore peak and off peak tariff should not be levied on it. He said two-time tariff was introduced to deal with the shortage of electricity. However, since there is no such shortage now therefore there is no reason to enforce peak tariff on the export oriented textile sector.