SITE industrialists appeal to PM for gas supply

KARACHI: SITE Association of Industry (SAI) President Abdul Hadi on Monday strongly protested against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) for not restoring gas to SITE industries as promised after the two-day shutdown notice, and appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice.

He said if the gas supply was not restored, “industrialists will be forced to shift their factories”. “SSGC had issued notification of gas shutdown for two days but did not restore gas to industries even after the passage of two days as it had promised,” he added. SAI chief pointed out that the suspension of production activities has jeopardised the completion of export orders, while large-scale export orders were likely to be cancelled.

“In the current situation, exporters are anxious to deliver old export orders, which are difficult to fulfil due to suspension of production activities; how can exporters get new export orders in such a situation,” he lamented.

Hadi complained that the gas utility company was reluctant to give any positive response to industrialists. The president of the association said that the industrialists should be informed about gas supply restoration, and in case the SSGC was not able to provide the necessary resource, they should be informed so factories could be relocated.

“If the SSGC cannot supply gas to the industries, let us know. We will shift factories from here and go elsewhere. It is unacceptable for us to harm Pakistan by creating problems for industries and tarnishing the image of the country,” he added. Hadi feared that if the basic needs of the industries were not met and the situation persisted, it would have a very negative impact on the country's exports. He pointed out that the country's exports would fall from $22 billion to a low of $17 billion under such a situation.

He further said that the SSGC’s irresponsibility has led to fears of massive cancellation of export orders and Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision could not be fulfilled unless the basic needs of industries were met. Citing the example of Bangladesh, he said that its exports have reached $54 billion, while our exports were declining instead of increasing.