Punjab govt forms working group for resolution of industry issues

• Zaman briefed provincial secretary about problems
• He deplored gas curtailment is being applied to mills
• Punjab Secretary Industries assured of his fullest support

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to constitute a working group for the resolution of textile industry in the province.

This was announced by the Secretary Industries, Commerce, Investment and Skill Development, Government of the Punjab Lt. (Red) Sohail Ashraf during his visit to All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Lahore on Monday.

He said the working group would consist of both Punjab government functionaries and the APTMA nominees.

The provincial secretary was accompanied by Zohaib Mushtaq, Additional Secretary, Javed Iqbal Malik, Senior Economic Advisor, Abubakar Zubair, Deputy Secretary, Ali Moazzam Syed, CEO PIEDMC, Abu Bakar Suleman, Director, and Sohail Qadri, Director.

Chairman APTMA North Zone Hamid Zaman, Senior Vice Chairman Karman Arshad, Vice Chairman Asad Shafi, Secretary General APTMA Raza Baqir and senior members of the association welcomed the official delegation on the occasion.

Zaman briefed the provincial secretary about problems being faced by the textile industry in Punjab, saying that the industry in Punjab is being supplied 50% of last year gas consumption against sanctioned load of 350 MMcfd. Also, he said, the gas supplied to Punjab is priced at 9$ / MMBTU which is much more than the cost of $ 3.75 applicable to rest of the country.

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He deplored that the gas curtailment is being applied only to mills in Punjab and disparity in energy tariff was forcing closure of units in Punjab.

The chairman APTMA has also sought extension of a TERF like facility in Punjab to facilitate investment for setting up 100 stitching units in the province.

He proposed that the Punjab government should provide subsidised credit facilities to SMEs and start-ups from Punjab Rozgar Scheme.

According to him, establishment of world class Stitching Training Center with foreign accreditation by TEVTA for training young workforce is also a need of the hour.

He further asked for an Ordinance for waiver of surcharge on voluntary payment of PESSI arrears.

He said the Punjab government should also Implement labour-related conventions, share statistics on Labour Unions, train textile workers while complying with the GSP plus conventions through TEVTA.

Establishment of integrated Textile & Apparel Parks and Textile cities, development of Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park, representation of APTMA on Boards of industrial estates, and soft loans/schemes for Punjab based industry for revival of closed units were a few more demands raised on the occasion.

Responding to the APTMA demands, the Punjab Secretary Industries assured of his fullest support, saying that the Punjab government would consider the industry demands in the larger interest of the country’s exports.

He said the Punjab government would leave no stone unturned in supporting smooth functioning of all industrial units to keep the momentum of upsurge in exports.

He also assured of taking up the energy issues for Export Oriented Units in Punjab with the concerned quarters while assuring of providing export-friendly environment in the province.

He further said that the government has pinned high hopes on the export-oriented sector for creation of jobs and new investment in the country. He said that development work on the establishment of industrial zones is being done on priority basis and Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Park is expected to be completed early next year. He added that all said zones would serve as industrial hubs equipped with all basic infrastructure and state of the art facilities. He urged the industry to step forward and start planning to set up industrial units at the earliest to contribute towards industrialization of the country and accelerating the pace of economic development.  He further stated that both the 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.

He said the Punjab government would also be considering provision of working capital through Punjab Bank and other Government sources for the stitching units.

Kamran Arshad, Senior Vice Chairman APTMA North Zone, thanked the provincial secretary in particular and the Provincial and Federal Governments in general for their bold initiatives in resolving the issues faced by the industrialists and hoped that with the continued support of the Government, the whole textile sector would make all out efforts to promote further investment in textile sector. He also vowed the commitment to uplift industrial activities and exports in the country.