Lack of RLNG threatens $20b export target

Textile industry presses govt to immediately restore gas supply to captive power plants

LAHORE:

Textile exporters have urged the government to immediately restore re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) supply to the captive power plants (CPPs) of industrial units in a bid to avert any delay in meeting the $20 billion textile export target for the current fiscal year.

Further delay may hit industrial production hard and eventually ruin the economy, they said.

Expressing concern over the lack of RLNG supply to the CPPs, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) Chairman Sohail Pasha emphasised that gas was the basic fuel for the manufacturing and processing of textile goods and the absence of gas as well as scarcity of electricity had become the major obstacles faced by the exporters.

“In addition to the halt to gas supply, the textile industry is also facing power cuts,” he said in a statement.

Pasha pointed out that although the RLNG supply to industrial consumers continued, the pressure was quite low and the machinery could not be run properly.

A majority of textile producers have already installed efficient combined-cycle technology to generate their own electricity as well as produce steam and hot water for energy production.

Moreover, he said, the power distribution companies were not in a position to supply additional electricity to the exporting units that had expanded their production capacity over the last couple of years.

“Most importantly, the exporters who have recently upgraded their textile technology require uninterrupted and smooth power supply to avoid damage to their equipment and production losses.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2022.

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