Govt making serious efforts to overcome energy crisis on war footings

FAISALABAD, (APP): The present government is fully aware of the energy crisis and it is making sincere efforts to solve this issue at the earliest on war footing.

Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, Federal Minister for Textile Industry said this while  addressing a gathering of traders, businessmen, industrialists and textile exporters in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here Sunday.
He termed textile as backbone of national economy and said that textile and Faisalabad are interdependent on each other. “Textile Ministry has been given to me as I belong to the city of textile” he said and assured that

he would try his best to develop textile industry on modern scientific lines in consultation with all stakeholders.
He said that textile sector was contributing a major share in foreign exchange earnings. However, there was still room to further increase its share, he added.

About prevailing energy crisis, he said that government was fully alive to it and serous efforts are being made to resolve this issue at the earliest. He said that a high level meeting has been convened at Islamabad on January 06 to discuss and resolve the burning issue of gas and electricity. “We would take appropriate decisions”, he said and assured that these decisions would also be implemented in its total earnest.

He also quoted his meeting with textile owners on December 26 last and said that most of the issues were settled in it. But riots erupted in the absence of credible links between him and textile sector. “All this happened at a time when situation was witnessing a positive improvement”, he lamented.

He said that government believes that textile is the major sector that could give immediate support to the national economy. He said that government was going to donor agencies to get only 4‑5 billion dollars.

“I assure government that textile sector alone could generate an additional income of 10‑20 billion dollars if complete infrastructure facilities were provided to the textile sector”, he said and added that he is striving hard for the revival of textile sector and in this connection Nishatabad Powerhouse has been put into operation to end  unscheduled load shedding of electricity.

He said that meeting of January 06 is exclusively dedicated to the issue of gas and electricity. “We would not only take appropriate decisions but also ensure 100% implementation of these decisions”, he asserted.

Federal Minister for Textile Industry Rana Farooq said that issues relating to the resolution of R&D (Research and Development), decrease in Banks’ markup and access to various international markets for Pakistan textile products are also in the pipeline and would be resolved without any further delay. He said that a representative of the business community would also be inducted in the Body of Directors (BODs) of FESCO (Faisalabad Electric Supply Company) to streamline the issues pertaining to the load shedding of electricity.

He asked representative of textile related organizations to attend a high level meeting of January 06 and give their positive suggestions in resolving the prevailing issues.

Earlier Mian Hamid Javaid president FCCI in his address of welcome explained the problems being confronted by the textile industry and demanded additional quota of electricity and gas to cater to the needs of its industries.
Mian Javaid Iqbal former president FCCI also addressed the meeting while a memento of the chamber was presented to Rana Farooq Saeed to acknowledge his personal efforts to resolve the issues being faced by the textile industry.
Senior Punjab Minister Raja Riaz Ahmad, Mian Muhammad Latif former chairman FIEDMC , Mian Muhammad Yousuf chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association , Ch Salamat Ali vice chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association North Zone, Sh Ashfaq Ahmad chairman Faisalabad Dry Port Trust , Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh chairman Faisalabad Garments City Company ,

Kh Shahid Razzak Sikka president Anjuman Tajran City Faisalabad , Azhar Majeed Sheikh chief Police Citizen Liaison Committee also attended the meeting besides leading industrialists Rana Mushtaq Khan, Mian Zahid Aslam, Rehan Naseem Bharara, Ch Muhammad Siddique, Mian Muhammad Idrees, Sh Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Ayub Sabir and Ch Maqsood Elahi.