60pc textile mills at risk of closure for gas crisis

Staff Reporter :
Textile mills owners on Saturday demanded uninterrupted gas supply to keep production running as around 60 per cent of the mills are at risk of closure.
Even, the entrepreneurs of the sector are ready to pay for gas at higher price than the market to keep operation of their factories, they said.
“More than half of the country is in a vulnerable position now because of severe gas crisis since March this year,” said BTMA President Mohammad Ali Khokon at a press conference at a city hotel. “So, we are even ready to pay a bit higher than the current price of gas if the government can ensure uninterrupted supply to the industrial units,” he added.
According to Textile Mills Association (BTMA), it has 1,700 member factories across the country.
Khokon said over $16 billion investment made in the country’s primary textile sector is also in a vulnerable position for the lack of adequate gas supply to the textile mills.
The BTMA president said that mills owners would not be able to meet their administrative costs, including workers’ wage and bank-loan installments, if such a situation is extended for a longer period.
“The gas crisis started in March and the situation worsened further in July. The mills have been remaining closed at least 12 hours per day since August due to gas crisis in different parts of the country. As a result, the millers are able to use maximum 30 to 40 per cent of their production capacity,” he said.
“Besides, the cost of producing yarn was $1.25 per kilogram, but it rose to $2.5 due to factory closure for half of the day,” he added. He said that dyeing factories are also suffering severely due to load shedding.
He further alleged, “If the concerned departments of the government had taken farsighted decisions, then this situation would not have arisen today.”
“Petrobangla assured us that the situation would improve somewhat from the beginning of October. November will be even better. There will be no crisis in December. But far from improving, the situation worsened in October,” he said.
The gas crisis may increase further in next two months, the BTMA president apprehended. BTMA Vice-Presidents Fazlul Haque, Abdullah Al Mamun, Directors Mosharraf Hossain, Abdullah Jobayer, Syed Nurul Islam and Monalisa Mannan, among others, were present.