Massive closure of industry of Sindh and Blochistan due to shortage and disruption of Gas supply
Mr. Zahid Mazhar, Chairman, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Southern Zone in a statement issued to the press said that the textile industry of Sindh and Balochistan are presently compelled to close their production or operate at 50 percent of their production capacity due to severe shortage and disruption of gas supply along with low gas pressure. This is despite that the government has increased gas tariff in February 2023 by around 30 percent.
He said that shortage of gas supply to the export oriented textile industry of Sindh and Baluchistan has created a havoc resulting in closure of number of industries and massive decline in the growth of large scale manufacturing and textile exports. Textile exports from July 2022 to April 2023 have declined by over 14% as compared to July 2021 to April 2022, he added.
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He also highlighted that the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan are producing around 85 percent of the total natural gas produced in the country. However, they are denied of their rights guaranteed under Article 158 of the Constitution of Pakistan. He demanded that the gas being produced in Sindh and Balochistan should at first be supplied to these provinces and after fulfilling the requirement of Sindh and Balochistan the surplus to be supplied to other provinces.
On the contrary, the gas of the two provinces is being supplied to Punjab which is against the Article 158. He further said that the textile industry is not only facing the problem of weekly closure of Gas of two days but also facing the problem of low Gas pressure throughout the week. This is resulting in heavy production losses, de-industrialization and unemployment.
Mr. Zahid Mazhar further said that the gas supply suspension to the Sindh based industry that contributes 52 percent to the country’s total exports is resulting in colossal loss of foreign exchange and revenue.
Mr. Zahid Mazhar requested the governments of Sind and Balochistan to take serious notice of shortage and low pressure of gas on urgent basis and issue instructions to SSGCL to ensure continuous and uninterrupted gas supply to the industry of Sindh and Baluchistan in general and export oriented sector in particular, otherwise more and more industries would be compelled to close their operations which will create not only irreparable losses to the economy of Pakistan but would also create law & order situation due to unemployment of large number of workers employed in these industries.
