All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) members to set up 1,000 garment manufacturing plants with an investment of $7 billion to resolve the crisis in the sector, the association proposed recently. These will be set up near textile-producing cities like Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Kasur, Multan, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Peshawar.

The planned units will install half a million stitching machines, which will boost annual production to three billion pieces, according to a report in a top Pakistani newspaper.

Investments in the country’s textile industry have dwindled over the last decade due to high cost of business and therefore, the industry has lost technological advantage over its competitors, according to an APTMA proposal presented to the government.

Around 35 per cent of the sector’s production capacity was impaired now, causing an export loss of nearly $4.14 billion, it said.

Once the proposal enters the implementation phase, the sector will need an additional 10.3 million bales of raw cotton, 345 million kg of man-made fibre, 1.983 billion kg of additional yarn and an additional 7.928 billion square metres of processed fibre.

Cotton-producing area and cotton production, however, have declined by 30 per cent and 38 per cent respectively in Punjab since 2011, according to the newspaper report.

APTMA has demanded corrective and conducive policy measures from the concerned government departments in return for the investment planned.

It sought a long-term policy for consistent energy prices across the country and removal of surcharge on electricity tariff and also suggested that foreign brands be encouraged to establish buying houses in commercial enclaves in major cities with rent-free space.