Minister assures Aptma of taking up gas price hike issue with federal govt

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal has assured the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) of taking up the issue of gas price hike from $6.5/MMBTU to $9/MMBTU for the export-oriented units in Punjab with the federal government at all appropriate levels, while agreeing that it has led to a huge price disparity among provinces.

The minister was talking to a delegation of Aptma led by its Northern Zone chairman Hamid Zaman and senior vice chairman Karman Arshad, secretary general Raza Baqir and senior members of the association.

Zaman briefed the minister about the disparity in gas prices between Punjab and other provinces and said that the upward revision in gas tariff from $6.5/MMBTU to $9/MMBTU has further widened the gulf of price difference.

He said gas prices in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were $4.87/MMBTU, whereas gas prices for industry in Punjab had been raised to $9/MMBTU. The gas price of $4.05/MMBTU in Bangladesh and $5.19/MMBTU in India was also much lower than the tariff applicable to Punjab-based export industry.

The Regionally Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET) provided by the present government over the last three years has yielded outstanding results, he added.

The Aptma North Zone chairman said the industry has delivered to the nation by investing Rs450 billion in machinery for capacity enhancement as per the commitment. This has resulted in an increase of $500 million in exports each and every month in FY22 so far.

Zaman apprehended that the new projected investment of $5 billion, setting up of 100 new plants and addition of at least 500,000 new jobs with 90 per cent of them in Punjab would all be jeopardised with this sudden increase in the gas tariff.

The Aptma chairman also urged upon the provincial government to take up the matter with the federal government, enabling the export-oriented industry located in Punjab to compete with the similar units elsewhere in the country, as well as export originating from other regional competitors.

The Aptma delegation apprised the minister about the problems being faced by the exporters due to the closure of private offices from Saturday to Monday in terms of the Punjab government order dated November 22, 2021 issued for smog control measures.

Mian Iqbal assured Aptma of full support from the Punjab government to make the export industry competitive with not only industry in other provinces but also against the regional competitors.

The minister said the Punjab government would leave no stone unturned in supporting smooth functioning and growth of the export industry to maintain the momentum of upsurge in exports.

The government has pinned high hopes on the export-oriented sector for creation of jobs and new investment in the country, he said, adding that the development work on the establishment of Quaid-e-Azam Park and other industrial zones is in full swing and would be completed by December next year.

He expressed the hope that the zones would serve as the industrial hubs equipped with all the basic infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities.

Mian Iqbal urged the industry to step forward and start planning to set up industrial units at the earliest to contribute towards industrialisation of the country and accelerating the pace of economic development.

Mian Iqbal invited the Aptma delegation to visit Quaid-e-Azam Park next month to physically observe the pace of development. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar both federal and provincial governments are keen to uplift the industrial activities and the pace of progress is being monitored closely by the leaderships at the highest level.

Kamran Arshad, thanked the minister, in particular, and the provincial government, in general, for their bold initiatives in resolving the issues being faced by the industry and expressed the hope that with the continued support of the government, the whole textile sector would make all-out efforts to promote further investment in the textile sector and upsurge in textile exports.

He also apprised the minister about the salient features of the new Textile Policy and vowed to accelerate economic activities to bring new investment, create more jobs and to foster exports.