Board of Investment approved, Kelun Lifesciences Ltd., one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka has saved over Rs. 1.5 billion by manufacturing saline locally.
This was revealed during an official visit to the Kandy Industrial Park by Investment Promotion State Minister Dilum Amunugama, BOI Director-General Renuka M. Weerakone and Executive Director (Zones) M.K.D. Lawrance.
The company fulfills 40% of the total demand for saline in the country at present. Kelun Lifesciences is an Indian investment that commenced operations in 2017 and has a total of 230 employees.
During the visit, the State Minister chaired a meeting with the participation of the investors of the Kandy Industrial Park, to discuss and resolve the issues faced by them.
“It is evident and undeniable that local productions and exports have been largely hit by global and local recessions resulting in low production and exports.
In this context, the Government is keen on taking pertinent measures to ensure the smooth operation of the local industries in the face of the global and local economic setbacks,” he underscored.
Kelun Life Sciences (Private) Limited BOI approved Sino –Sri Lanka joint venture project has started the production of saline for foreign and local markets at its fully fledged plant with Artificial Intelligence in the Kandy Industrial Park.
The investment value of the project was US$ 12-75 million of which US$ 9.5 will be foreign direct investment, Board of Investment (BOI) sources said.
The production capacity of the plant is around 190 million 500 ml bottles per annum with a value of Rs.2.9 million and its local share is around 33 percent or one third of total production.
The company plans exporting earnings of $18 million annually, an official said, adding that the product processed WHO certification.
It will also manufacture injectables to supply to the Health Ministry, helping reduce shortages in the country, resulting in freshly manufactured stocks and also contributing towards import substitution, he disclosed.
He added that the Investment Promotion Ministry is in the process of making short- and long-term strategies to address the contemporary issues confronted by the industry players to boost export production and continue operations.
The Kandy Industrial Park, a 114-acre land, houses 24 factories with over 10,400 worker population.
The government plans to manufacture 50 percent of the country’s requirement of pharmaceuticals locally within the next three years while the country imports 85 percent of its drug requirement at an annual cost of Rs.130 billion.
India spear heads almost half of the country’s drug imports followed by Pakistan, United States, Switzerland, France, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.
Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical market is expected to reach US$ 787 million by 2022 with the increasing country’s ageing population.
