Textile mill owners plead for uninterrupted gas supply

26 Aug '08

2 min read

At a press conference held in Dhaka on August 25, textile mill owners of the country put forward their pleas for an urgent need for receiving adequate gas supplies for their plants to maintain production.

Mr Abdul Hai Sarker, President of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) stated that, “Gas supply situation in some areas is so bad that the textile factory owners in these areas can hardly run their factories.”

BTMA President also noted that erratic gas supply to the mills would negatively affect the overall export volumes of the country because export of readymade garment depends largely on backward linkages of the textile industry.

Presently, the local textile millers have the capacity of supplying 90 and 40 percent of the raw material used in the knitwear and woven sub-sectors respectively. The remaining demand is met through imports, mainly from China.

Mr Sarker also emphasized on the fact that rationing of gas in the plants would not be a viable proposition since the textile mills require 24 hours gas supply for maintaining the production.

Even Mr Ahmed Ali, Managing Director of Padma Bleaching and Dyeing Limited, who was present at the conference, noted that irregular gas supply in his factory was making it impossible to run a smooth production operation.

Similarly, those factory owners operating in Kanchpur-Narsingdi industrial belt also bemoaned being a victim to inadequate infrastructure and interrupted gas supplies.

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