Pharma raw material production expected in 2023
An agreement was signed with Indian Ramki Enviro Services Ltd for the construction of the CETP plant
The production of pharmaceutical raw materials in the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) industrial park in Munshiganj is expected to launch in early 2023 before Bangladesh's graduation to a middle-income country.
Nazmul Hasan Papon, president of The Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries, inaugurated the CETP plant in the industrial park on Monday in line with the expectation.
An agreement was signed with the Indian Ramki Enviro Services Ltd for the construction of the CETP plant.
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Nazmul said, "Around 95 percent raw material of our pharmaceutical industry are imported. We enjoy duty-free import of the raw material as a least developed country. Bangladesh will lose the privilege after 2024 once the country graduates from the LDC. So, we have to launch production in the API park within 2023."
A total of 20 companies will go to production within this time frame, Nazmul expressed hope.
The work of the CETP plant will be completed within 21 months at a cost of Tk100 crore. The plant will be able to refine 20 lakh cubic litre of waste daily. Other infrastructural development work will be done by June next year.
The estimated cost for the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient project is Tk381 crore. Of the cost, Tk301 crore was allocated from the government's own fund and another Tk80 crore from the entrepreneur fund.
The timespan for the construction was expanded several times since its beginning in 2004 and 2020 has been set for the completion of the work finally.
In the meantime, the work of allocating plots of the park, established on 200 acres of land, has been finished and 27 companies took 45 plots.
Mostak Ahmed, chairman of the construction agency Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), was present at the inauguration ceremony.
