Mega pharma project making headway in Salalah FZ

BUSINESS REPORTER

MUSCAT, Sept 25

The Board of Directors of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) held a meeting with a number of CEOs of factories at Salalah Free Zone and visited a number of establishments operating in the fields of food, chemicals and pharmaceutical production in the Zone.

OPAZ Board of Directors, headed by Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Chairman, also held its third meeting of the year in Salalah.

The meeting covered investments at Salalah Free Zone and the direction to localise the production of medicines and medical supplies in the Zone, where special locations have been already allocated for such projects. Soon the Zone will be home for one of the largest pharmaceutical factories in the Sultanate, which is currently under construction.

Already, the free zone is home to an array of investments focused on pharmaceuticals, nutritional products and other healthcare related commodities.

Philex Pharmaceutical Industries, the biggest of these ventures, has already brought into operation part of its estimated $300 million-worth integrated pharmaceutical complex.

While a secondary packaging unit was launched in May 2020, the centerpiece of the massive venture – a pharmaceutical plant set on 110,000 sq metres – is currently under construction and will commence the first phase of operations next year. In addition to medicines, the company’s product line-up will include hard tablets and capsules, and the country’s first injectable solutions.

The Board of Directors was briefed on the plan developed by Asyad Group to enhance the integration of Salalah Free Zone with the logistics system in the Sultanate. Likewise, the meeting also focused on ways to maximise the benefits between the special economic zones, free zones and the ports.