Ensure gas supply to save textile mills

Sixty percent of the country’s textile mills are at risk of closure due to the ongoing severe shortage of gas with the millers failing to entertain export orders worth $1 billion in recent months. At a press conference at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital, Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) on Saturday said that 90 per cent of the textile mills had been facing a shortage of gas since March 2022 and the situation had deteriorated since July and the production in the sector decreased to 35-40 per cent. The BTMA said the sector would pay higher than the existing price of gas on condition that the government would ensure an uninterrupted supply.
Earlier, the government increased the price of gas twice with a promise to ensure an uninterrupted supply, but the industry did not get the supply. If the government gives the sector gas worth $2 lakh, the return with exports will be worth $48 billion. The BTMA said that 90 per cent of the factories were facing a gas crisis now. The primary textile sector was facing an intense gas crisis by receiving supply only 12 hours a day, which increased the production cost of yarns by twofold to $2.5 a kilogram.
Due to falling competitiveness, there is a chance of shutting down many factories, which may create new bank defaulters and unemployment. Exports from the textile sector reduced significantly due to the shortage of gas and as a result, the retention of $21 billion would be under threat and the jobs of one million people would also be at risk. The textile sector must be given priority in supplying uninterrupted gas with reasonable prices as this sector was the second highest export earner.
The big bubble of development surprise has been pinned by reality and no effective capacity of the country regarding power production and supply system is truly achieved. Injecting millions of dollars into the ruling party’s men-owned quick rental plants without single power generation is considered a development, yes it was achieved multifold. The hollowness of the incumbent’s development stampeding democracy surprised the world and the people.