Textile industry urges swift CTBCM implementation with low wheeling charges

ISLAMABAD: The textile industry has asked the government to ensure operationalising the private power market -- Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM) -- with multi sellers and buyers model at the earliest, with minimum wheeling charges of 1-1.5 cents per unit so that the industrial activities could gain momentum.

In a letter to secretary petroleum Momin Agha, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) also suggested that the framework must avoid extraneous costs such as cross-subsidies and stranded costs that are unrelated to CTBCM consumers.

APTMA in its correspondence also proposed the government to allow the textile sector to directly import 100 mmcfd of LNG and another 100 mmcfd of government-contracted LNG with Qatar, along with associated terminal and pipeline capacities, to the industry. This would ensure a reliable and affordable supply of energy for captive power generation, relieving the government of this burden as well as surplus LNG contracts. APTMA says that it stands ready to execute this initiative immediately and without any subsidies or financial support from the government, aligning with oft quoted free-market principles advocated by multilateral agencies and the government itself The letter further states the government agencies have failed in ensuring continuous and affordable provision of energy for the export-oriented textile sector, causing significant operational disruptions and unsustainable cost increases that have placed the industry in a position where their products are uncompetitive in the international market.