The State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPMC) and Pharma Zone (Pvt) Ltd entered into an agreement to build the first ever exclusive pharmaceutical manufacturing zone in Welipenna in the Kalutara district with an investment of US $ 10 million.
Pharma Zone (Pvt) Ltd, located on 50 acres, is a BOI approved company whose principals are the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Sultan Iskandar and Patrick Lim Soo Kit, a Malaysian entrepreneur.
It is his desire that this investment results not only in commercial success but also that it will benefit as many Sri Lankan citizens and promote closer commercial and diplomatic relations between the people of Sri Lanka and Johor, a company official said.
The Sultan’s investment vehicle, Inti Kemuncak Sdn Bhd is a well-established property development company based in Malaysia focusing on large scale property development in the Asian region. Inti Kemuncak is the innovative developer of major townships and urban regeneration projects including Coronation Square, a US $ 1.2 billion international class urban mixed development located within the prestigious Ibrahim International Business District (IIBD) in Johor Bahru.
Minister of Health, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and representatives of SPMC and Pharma Zone participated in the event which was held at Waters Edge Hotel.
The zone will facilitate local pharmaceutical manufacturers with sufficient land for manufacturing plants and basic infrastructure facilities for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products to achieve the Government’s target of localising production of essential pharmaceutical items to the value of US$100 million, thus saving valuable foreign exchange.
Dr. Senaratne said that the setting up of the Pharma Zone by the Sultan of Johor would hopefully give confidence and encourage other overseas investors to follow suit.
“We are delighted to enter into this agreement with the government of Sri Lanka which has always enjoyed warm relations with Malaysia. It is the fervent wish of Sultan Ibrahim, that this venture not only brings commercial prosperity to Sri Lanka but benefits the people by way of reduced pricing as well as the ready availability of drugs,” said Lim.
“This is a 100 percent Malaysian investment and it underlines the high regard that the Sultan and the people of Johor for Sri Lanka,” he said.
Chairman SPMC, Dr. Sayura Samarasundara said that with the completion of the Pharma Zone, envisaged to be in operation within one year, the country’s dependency on imported drugs will soon become a thing of the past.
The zone will be run and administered by Pharma Zone, headed by Patrick Lim Soo Kit, while the SPMC and the Ministry of Health will set the standards and monitor quality.