Textile mills to operate during gas outages

By Shamsul Islam

Published: June 9, 2011

Say gas company not taking action against unlawful usage.

FAISALABAD:

Textile associations, while rejecting gas outages in summer, have announced that they will not close their manufacturing facilities during the scheduled shutdown and will continue to consume gas.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) Chairman Muhammad Saeed Sheikh claimed that the managing director of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) had assured the industrialists that outages would be brought down from three to two days if the industry voluntarily reduced consumption to 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).

In line with the commitment, he said, special inspection teams were constituted to discourage unlawful use of gas during the outage period. Similarly, various sessions were held to educate and persuade the industrialists to observe holiday during the outage period.

The inspection teams, he added, caught red-handed 20 factories which were violating the load management schedule. Their names were communicated to the gas company but he said they failed to take any action against the violators. Sheikh put the blame on what he said was the corrupt mafia within the gas company and added this group was minting money by allowing factories to work during the gas outage period.

Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association Chairman Chaudhry Salamat Ali categorically declared that its members would not comply with the gas outage programme and deal aggressively with the gas company officials if they tried to stop supply to their units.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2011.

ottom$ � ; a @� � � om:.0001pt;text-align: justify;text-indent:5.65pt;line-height:9.9pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none;vertical-align:middle’>Besides up-gradation of Mangla Power House, 22-MW Jabban Power House is also being rehabilitated at a cost of Rs. 3.7 billion. In addition, the contract for rehabilitation and up-gradation of 243-MW Warsak Power House will also be finalised soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2011.