By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –
construction of a US$10 million pharmaceutical plant by NRB Pharma Zambia Limited in the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone (LS-MFEZ) has been completed and is set to be commissioned.
LS-MFEZ managing director Fortune Kamusaki confirmed the development in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, saying the construction of the plant and installation of machinery had been completed.
“I would like to announce that the construction of the US$10 million NRB Pharma Zambia pharmaceutical plant and installation of the machinery has been completed,” Dr Kamusaki said.
He said the company was currently awaiting commissioning of the plant by President Edgar Lungu before commencing commercial production later this year.
He said the completion of the plant in Zambia was a step forward that would not only provide quality drugs at competitive prices to the local population, but would also export to the region.
In 2013, the LS-MFEZ signed the first lease agreement with NRB Pharma Zambia Limited, which has established the first World Health Organisation (WHO)-certified pharmaceutical plant in Southern Africa.
The project has created over 300 jobs directly and indirectly.
The building by NRB Pharma Zambia consists of two manufacturing plants while the other building houses a laboratory, offices and commercial stores.
One of the manufacturing plants would be producing tablets while the other would be producing capsules.
The plants will initially make drugs that will treat malaria and HIV/AIDS, with the future expansion to include pharmaceuticals that would be identified to be in demand in sub-Saharan Africa.