Pharma Ingredient Park
BSCIC, pharma assoc sign revised MoU
The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation and Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industry on Wednesday signed a revised memorandum of understanding on increasing the cost of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Park project.
Under the revised MoU the BAPI will give total cost of Tk 80 crore for installation of the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the API park which is being set up at Gojaria upazila of Munshiganj for producing basic raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry.
Under the previous MoU, the BAPI was supposed pay Tk 25 crore for installation of the CEPT but the cost of the CETP went up because of the delay in project implementation.
The four-year project of BSCIC that got an initial nod from the government in 2008 with an estimated cost of Tk 233.50 crore will now cost around Tk 331.86 crore because of increase in prices of construction materials due to delay.
The government will allocate an additional Tk 43 crore for the project.
BSCIC chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder and BAPI president Salman F Rahman signed the revised MoU at a programme at the industries ministry.
Industries minister Dilip Barua at the programme said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina will unveil the plaque of the API park project next month, aiming to fulfill the longstanding demand of the country’s pharmaceutical companies for a specialised park.
A total of 42 plots on 200 acres of land are supposed to be constructed in the API Park.
Different pharmaceutical companies will take lease of the plots from BSCIC for producing raw materials.
Health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, industries secretary Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah and BAPI secretary general Abdul Muktadir were present on the occasion.
Ruhal said Bangladesh is now exporting pharmaceutical products to 86 countries after meeting the country’s 98 per cent demand.
Once the API Park project is implemented, Bangladesh will be able to produce raw materials for the industry, he added.
-With New Age input
