Dr. M. M. Hashem Ali
General Manager
Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC)

From time immemorial economical condition of this area the then East Bengal was mainly dependent on agriculture. After the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the eastern part of Pakistan (then East Pakistan) lack industries except a few. It was The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who raised the EPSIC Bill in the then provincial assembly in 14th March 1957 and after the approval of the Bill it came into effect in 30th May 1957. In fact, EPSIC was the trailblazer of industrialisation in East Pakistan. After Independence of Bangladesh in 1971 BSCIC took the same effort of industrializing Bangladesh through its nationwide network. Now Bangladesh has already become one of the world leaders in RMGs and pharmaceutical sectors.
Among the 47 Least Developed Countries, Bangladesh is self sufficient in pharmaceutical products especially, in medicine production. In the year 1982 volume of pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh was BDT 170 cr. which shoot up at BDT 15600 cr. in 2016-17. Bangladesh is producing 97% of its requirement and earning foreign currency by exporting its product to 85 countries. Pharmaceutical industries are expanding in our countries. Recently, result of a research conducted by L.R. Global shows its production of pharmaceutical products is increasing 15% every year and very soon Bangladesh will become one of the leading countries in medicine production. It may be mentioned under the TRIPS agreement Bangladesh is allowed to export drugs till 2033.

The gateway to API project.

At present Bangladesh imports 80% of the raw materials required for producing local medicine. API are the major import items. It costed Bangladesh TK. approximately 5.1 crore to import API in 1982 and now it shoot up at approximately Tk. 470 crore. Bangladesh imports API from different countries like India, China etc. If Bangladesh is to import raw material for patent drugs, Bangladesh will not be able to compete in the international market especially with the countries like China, India. In that case to exist in the international market Bangladesh needs to produce necessary raw materials locally. To cut the import cost and boost the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry, an API Industrial Park at Gazaria, Munshiganj, 37 Km from the capital city Dhaka. The project is being implemented on 200 acres of land. There will be 28 nos. of plots in which 28 nos. of Pharmaceutical Ingredients Manufacturing Industrial units will be set up. Different types of pharmaceutical ingredients are: Matformin Hydro-chloride, Vildagliptin, Sitagliptin Phosphate, Montelukast Sodium, Roflumilast, Olmesartan, Vals-artan, Losartan Potassium, Amlo-dipin Besilate, Amloditine, Besylate, Tadalafil, Ciprofloxacin HCL, Pantoprazole, Albuterol, Sotalol, Omeprazole, Rosuvastatin, Etoricoxib, Lansoprazole, Enala-pril Maleate, Ofloxacin, Rabepra-zole, Flunarizine, Albendazole, Sinvastatin, Ipratropium Bromide, Metformin, Atorvastatin Calcium, Fluconazole, Esomoprazole, Fexo-fenadine, Itraconazole, Allopu-rinol, Loratadine, Montelukast, Ramipril, Terbinafin HCL, Lamiv-udine, Linagliptin, Azithromycin Dihydrade, Clopidogrel, Lisinopril, Mirtazepine, Gabapentine, Vildag-liptin, Sitagliptin, Linagliptin, Rivaroxaban, Rosuvastatin, Atorv-astatin, Etoricoxib, Esomoprazol Magnasium, Salbutamol, Levos-albutamol, Ketotifen, Desloratadin, Loratadine, Rosuvastatin, Amlodi-pin, Gliclazide, Metformin, Vildagliptin, Sitagliptin, Linag-liptin, Alfuzosin, Tansolosin, Silodosin, Tolterodine, Solifenacin, Sildenafil, Tadalafil, Amlodipine, Hydrochlorothiazide, Rosuvastatin, Fexofenadine, Atenolol, Olmesa-rtan Medoxomil, Trimeta-zidine, Montelukast, Nitroglycerin, Losar-tan, Tamsulosin, Cetirizine, Rupa-tadine, Bisoprolol, Levoceti-rizine, Aceclofenace, Cefixime, Moxi-floxacin Hydrochloride, Cipro-floxacin, Atovastatin, Sulbutamol, Montelucast, Tregadalin, Metroni-dazole, Linagliptin, Metformin HCL, Pregabalin INN, Povidone Iodine, Lignocaine, Ascorbic Acid, Dextrose Monohydrate, Chlorp-heni-ramine Maleate, Albendazole, Azithromycin, Diclofenac Sodium etc. If the API industrial park is established, the cost of production will decrease and medicine export will increase. This industry will be able to earn about BDT 5000 cr. by exporting medicine as the pharmaceutical industry has already emerged as a potential sector in the country.

An internal view of API project.

In the API industrial park companies are planning to produce 353 types of pharmaceutical ingredients by 2020. About 25,000 people will get employment opportunities in the project. Considering the above Govt. of Bangladesh decided to establish an environmentally suitable industrial park to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients which will provide following facilities:
w To establish an environmentally suitable industrial park to produce Active Ingredients.
w To provide infrastructural facilities like developed plots, internal roads, drainage, electricity, water, gas, CETP, dumping yard/incinerator, modern fire fighting arrangement etc. to the entrepreneurs in a compact area to promote active ingredients producing industries.
w To provide facilities like electricity, water, gas, CETP.
From January 2008 to June 2017 following works have been done:
Land acquisition, land development, administrative building and other buildings like police camp, pump driver quarter, 18 nos. of box culvert, 5002m boundary wall, 54751sqm road (carpeting), 12864sqm road soldering, 10932m RCC surface drain, 4250m pipeline for water, deep tube well, pump house, 2 nos. of water reservoir for fire station, 12km HV line, two river crossing tower, electric substation, 650m distribution line, approach road etc. have already been completed which indicate 85% physical progress of the project.

This will be one of the example of Public Private Partnership (PPP) project. CETP, dumping yard and incinerator etc. will be constructed by the plot owner i.e. entrepreneur with their own cost.

API industrial park will be a State of the Art level establishmant. It will turn the country into one of the major exporters in the pharmaceutical sector as it will reduce the import cost of raw materials for the production of drugs.