Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is set to halt gas supply to textile mills under its winter load management plan. PHOTO: FILE
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Tanveer said the industry would refrain from holding strikes and rather prefer to negotiate with the government to come up with innovative proposals to solve the energy crisis.
He said the government should avoid any radical measures like completely disconnecting gas supply to the industry and instead manage it through an hourly-based system.
Currently, gas supply to textile mills in Punjab has dropped to 2.33 days a week, translating into only 56 hours in a week with electricity supply for four to six hours a day.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is set to halt gas supply to textile mills under its winter load management plan. Current demand for the SNGPL network is around 3,500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against availability of 1,450 mmcfd.
Tanveer said the industry was likely to lose exports worth $1.2 billion per month. Reports suggest that gas supply to textile mills will remain suspended for two to three months, which means that the industry will lose around $3 billion.
He said the textile industry in Punjab, which was running only one shift, was bearing a loss of Rs72 billion due to gas shortage for around 114 days per annum.
Tanveer expressed fear that cotton prices could crash in case of suspension of gas supply to the mills.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2013.
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PM must give priority to these issues faced by industries as more industries mean more employment opportunities for common pakistanis and boost for the economy.