Work on API park may begin in April
Monday, 15 March 2010
Monira Munni
Construction work of the proposed Active Pharmaceutical Ingred-ients (API) industrial park in Munshiganj is likely to begin in April, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the commencement of API project work," the minister told the FE.
A team, headed by the industries minister, visited the site of the industrial park Sunday.
"We have completed acquiring of 200 acres of land in Bausia under Gazaria upazila in Munshiganj for the project," ABM Khorshed Alam, additional secretary of the industries ministry, told the FE.
He said Tk 650 million is needed to purchase the land, while the total project cost is estimated at Tk 2.35 billion. "The project cost was first fixed at Tk 2.13 billion, but now it has now increased as prices of land have gone up."
Ministry officials met last week to review the project's progress and decided to begin the construction work immediately.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is implementing the project. The project period has been extended by one year due to complication in land acquisition.
"We are expecting to complete the development of the project by 2013, which was first initiated in 2008," Mr Alam said.
Officials said the cost of the land will be realised through sale of plots. An entrepreneur seeking to buy the plot will have to pay 60 per cent of the total land cost on allotment and the remaining 40 per cent later in installments.
BSCIC will provide infrastructural facilities such as roads, drainage, electricity, gas and fire-fighting equipment to the entrepreneurs.
The project, once completed, will cut import of pharmaceutical ingredients by 90 per cent, which will ultimately save a lot of foreign currency, industry people said.
Each year, the country's pharmaceuticals industry manufactures medicines worth Tk 5.0 billion, which accounts for 97 per cent of the local consumption.
Experts say Bangladesh will fail to compete in the global market if the country continues to import pharmaceutical ingredients to manufacture medicines for exports. Similarly, the price of medicines will go up after 2016 when patents will be imposed on all generic drugs.
About 45 industrial units will be set up in the park, which will create employment for nearly 25,000 people, the ministry officials added.
Construction work of the proposed Active Pharmaceutical Ingred-ients (API) industrial park in Munshiganj is likely to begin in April, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the commencement of API project work," the minister told the FE.
A team, headed by the industries minister, visited the site of the industrial park Sunday.
"We have completed acquiring of 200 acres of land in Bausia under Gazaria upazila in Munshiganj for the project," ABM Khorshed Alam, additional secretary of the industries ministry, told the FE.
He said Tk 650 million is needed to purchase the land, while the total project cost is estimated at Tk 2.35 billion. "The project cost was first fixed at Tk 2.13 billion, but now it has now increased as prices of land have gone up."
Ministry officials met last week to review the project's progress and decided to begin the construction work immediately.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is implementing the project. The project period has been extended by one year due to complication in land acquisition.
"We are expecting to complete the development of the project by 2013, which was first initiated in 2008," Mr Alam said.
Officials said the cost of the land will be realised through sale of plots. An entrepreneur seeking to buy the plot will have to pay 60 per cent of the total land cost on allotment and the remaining 40 per cent later in installments.
BSCIC will provide infrastructural facilities such as roads, drainage, electricity, gas and fire-fighting equipment to the entrepreneurs.
The project, once completed, will cut import of pharmaceutical ingredients by 90 per cent, which will ultimately save a lot of foreign currency, industry people said.
Each year, the country's pharmaceuticals industry manufactures medicines worth Tk 5.0 billion, which accounts for 97 per cent of the local consumption.
Experts say Bangladesh will fail to compete in the global market if the country continues to import pharmaceutical ingredients to manufacture medicines for exports. Similarly, the price of medicines will go up after 2016 when patents will be imposed on all generic drugs.
About 45 industrial units will be set up in the park, which will create employment for nearly 25,000 people, the ministry officials added.