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APTMA seeks rollback of gas infrastructure cess

11
Jun '12

Expressing concern over levy of gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) of Pk Rs. 100 per mmbtu on industries with captiv power plants, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has urged the Government to rollback the same.

APTMA Sindh-Balochistan region Chairman M Yasin Siddik said the recent levy has increased the overall gas tariff by 20.21 percent. This is likely to adversely impact the textile production as well as exports, as it would further enhance the cost of doing business, he added.

He revealed that gas tariffs have gone up by about 37 percent since August 2011, 55.6 percent since July 2010 and 83.4 percent since July 2009.

According to Mr. Siddik, rather than imposing taxes that render the industry unviable, the Government should try to aid the textile industry in its efforts aimed at promoting exports, drawing more local as well as foreign investment and encouraging economic activities in the country.

He suggested that rather than taking any unilateral decision, the Government should take all industry stakeholders on board, so as to stabilise the entire textile industry value chain from spinning to garmenting.

The textile industry in Pakistan pays over double the tariff as compared to that in Bangladesh, and the cost of doing business in Pakistan comes to be the highest in the region, after addition of the gas tariff and electricity charges. This eventually would render the Pakistani industries unviable in the world market, the APTMA official cautioned.

He thus called on the Government to rollback the recent levy of GIDC and find out ways to improve the efficiency of the energy sector.

Fibre2fashion Newsdesk - India

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