APTMA demands energy price parity

Asks Punjab to bear burden of Rs3.63 per unit surcharge

LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan has urged the provincial government to bear the burden of Rs3.63 per unit electricity surcharge to save the industry from total collapse.

He said already 30% of the production capacity had been shut down besides 30% decline in exports in terms of volume across the value chain.

“Furthermore, the decline in cotton production over the past two crop seasons has added to miseries of the textile industry, which is in addition to the ever-growing energy price disparity within the country,” he added, according to a statement.

He said energy was being made available to the industry in other provinces at Rs6 per kilowatt hour (kWh) against Rs11 per unit for the Punjab-based industry with an additional burden of Rs100 billion per annum.

The Lahore High Court has already declared the electricity surcharge as illegal. However, the matter has been pending with the apex court for the past two years, said Ahsan.

The Aptma chairman insisted that the textile industry could not sustain the unjust burden and it was neither the source of theft nor non-recovery/line losses.

He urged the Punjab chief minister to take the textile industry into confidence to ensure that either the federal or provincial government provide relief of Rs3.63 to the exporting industry for its revival.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2017.

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