Upcoming H’tota pharma zone to boost export earnings by 2025: BOI

• Eyes US$ 1bn worth of pharma export earnings by 2025
• Says ground scheduled for end of March next year 
• Exports scheduled to begin by end of 2024

As Sri Lanka is gearing up to witness the establishment of an industrial zone dedicated to pharmaceutical manufacturing, the Board of Investment (BOI) expressed confidence in the sector paving the way for export earnings to leapfrog in the near future.

“If the pharmaceutical industry is developed to the anticipated level, it will lead to an industry creating a pathway to US$ 1 billion export earnings and import substitution post 2025,” BOI Director General Sanjaya Mohottala said in a statement to the media.

He added that the focus on the pharmaceutical zone would provide “dynamic long- term” benefits to the economy such as skills upgrading and technology transfer creating a new export vertical.

Mohottala stated that the high skill pharma qualified workforce needed for the industry would create opportunities for highly-specialised jobs in the future.“It’s worthy to note that discussions and actions have been taken to build the workforce, to cater to the industry, therefore the skills development plan scheduled to commence along with the initiation of development activities for the Pharma zone, will ensure the availability of skilled human resource in coming years,” he said.

Mohottala also pointed out that while plans are afoot to actively explore the pharmaceutical industry, it is imperative to attract top most companies in the world to invest in the zone in Hambantota, so that the entire pharmaceutical industrial chain can be developed.

He shared that a number of global giants in the field have already presented their interests in establishing their manufacturing plants in the upcoming zone that will be developed in 
two phases.

In the first phase, 200 acres of land will be developed to accommodate pharmaceutical companies. The ground breaking of the zone and the construction of zone enterprises are planned to commence in the end of the first quarter of 2021. 

Infrastructure readiness in phase one is scheduled to take place at the end of 2021.

The balance 200 acres will be developed as the second phase, while setting the timeline for products to be sent out to markets by the year 2024. 

In addition to the 400 acres, the BOI shared that 50 acres of land, located next to the Mattala Airport is available for pharma related value added and export logistics operations.