KARACHI: The textile industrialists have asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to pass on the impact of falling oil prices in full to the industry.
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman Tariq Saud, in a statement, said that high cost of doing business had created a hole in the viability of textile industry, particularly the large section dependent on electricity supply in Punjab, which was resulting into fast closure of textile units, steep fall in textile exports and the consequent rampant unemployment.
He hoped that reduction in industrial tariff by the prime minister would enable the textile industry to compete with immediate regional textile players through availability of level playing field. He appealed for removal of the tariff rationalisation surcharge, while adjusting the Rs 3 per unit reduction in industrial tariff. “Textile industry cannot pass on them system inefficiencies and line losses wrongly inflicted upon it in the name of tariff rationalisation surcharge,” he stressed.
He urged the prime minister to direct the Ministry of Water and Power for issuing a notification in this respect, as reduction in the industrial tariff is applicable from January 1st. “It will enable the industry to book export orders without delay, as many textile millers are still uncertain over the fate of tariff rationalisation surcharge,” he said.
The Aptma chairman further added that only the prime minister could put an end to the ongoing indecisiveness by removing the tariff rationalisation surcharge from the industrial tariff. “A timely decision would enable the textile industry to deliver and materialise the prime minister’s dream of industrial revolution in Pakistan,” he vowed.
He expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for Rs 3 per unit reduction in electricity tariff for Industry, saying that this single step would greatly help textile industry for revival of its presently compromised viability.
