Many textile and spinning mills, operated with captive power plants, lost their production capacity by 40 per cent on an average due to shortage of gas supply, leaders of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) claimed on Thursday.
They noted that following low pressure in the gas-lines - connected to the captive power plants, production of yarn dropped significantly, which may have an adverse effect on the country's ready-made garments (RMG) sector.
The BTMA leaders said these at a press conference, organised by the association at a hotel in the city's Gulshan-2 area.
Referring to the production crunch in spinning, weaving, dying, printing and finishing mills, BTMA President Mohammad Ali Khokon said most of these factories run on captive power, where gas is the main source of fuel.
"But recently gas supply to those factories, specially located in Narayanganj, Savar, Dhamrai, Saturia, Gazipur and Chattogram, reduced significantly that led to shutdown of their production."
Giving example, he said some of the factories are even receiving gas at less than 1.5 psi (pounds per square inch) pressure against their allocation of 15 psi, which has cut production in those industries to below 30 per cent.
Demanding uninterrupted gas supply to the textile industries, the BTMA president also said the government raised gas prices by over 200 per cent in last few years on condition of supplying LNG (liquefied natural gas) to industries uninterruptedly.
But due to the recent supply shortage, yarn production cost is increasing, which would seriously affect the export-oriented industries, as about two thirds of the demand for yarn of RMG sector is met by local industries, he added.
Mr Khokon also mentioned that the BTMA held talks with the Titas Gas authorities several times in this regard, but the problem continued.
The BTMA leaders urged the government to supply LNG to the national grid for uninterrupted electricity supply.
BTMA vice-president Fazlul Hoque, and its director Estahak Ahmed Shaikat, among others, were also present on the occasion.
