LAHORE: Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) North Zone Hamid Zaman has expressed the apprehension that the textile industry in the country would be at the verge of collapse in case the government withdraws the Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET) of Rs19.99/KwH.

He was addressing a press conference at the Zonal office of the Association on Friday. Senior Vice Chairman APTMA Kamran Arshad, Vice Chairman Asad Shafi, former chairmen including Abdul Rahim Nasir and Syed Ali Ahsan and Secretary General APTMA Raza Baqir were also present on the occasion.

Hamid Zaman said that the country would face further deterioration in the balance of payment crisis as pulling out of RCET would result in a loss in exports of $10 billion per annum. It would also lead to disruptions in the investment plan of the industry for setting up of 1000 garment units to create millions of new jobs, he added.

“Punjab is the hub of textile industry and closure of large scale production units would render seven million textile workers jobless”, he said and feared that further closure of the industry would result in massive unemployment in the country.

Chairman APTMA said reliance on grid electricity at over Rs40/unit would make the Punjab textile industry uncompetitive in the international and local markets and this would result in shifting of the available export orders to other countries.

Zaman pointed out that the export sector in Sindh was being provided gas at $3.11, whereas in Punjab it was $9/MMBtu. APTMA wants the government to continue to extend RCET with an electricity tariff at Rs19.90/unit and a gas tariff at $7/MMBtu to the export industry across the country including captive power plants, he said.

He has also stressed the government to extend gas priority allocation to the export-oriented industry. Former Chairman Rahim Nasir said that an increase in energy tariff would lead to closure of over 200 textile units in major industrial cities of Punjab, including Faisalabad, Lahore and Multan. He also sought an end to the inter-provincial disparity in gas tariff and urged the government to ensure unified gas tariff in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023