Snabpolymer Meditsina is considering the possibility of switching the production of self-destructing syringes in Russia from special investment contract (SPIC) mechanism to the location of production in a special economic zone (SEZ). The company denies abandoning its plans to build from one to three plants for the production of medical devices with a total investment of 10 billion rubles, with Nizhny Novgorod Region, Astrakhan Region, Moscow and Krasnodar Territory considered as candidates for construction sites, the Kommersant reports.
According to the publication, the decision to terminate the contract was made at a meeting of the Federal Interdepartmental Commission on SPIC at the initiative of the company itself.
According to Vladislav Zezyulin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, the SPIC mechanism does not provide significant preferences any more, except for tax, and production in SEZ is more attractive in terms of potential benefits. In addition, the need to use three-component self-destructing syringes was not reflected in the standards of medical care and clinical recommendations, and the initiative to make changes had to be re-launched due to the change of the team in the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
The company intends to implement the project in a SEZ; the candidate sites are the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Astrakhan Region, Krasnodar Territory, as well as Moscow and Moscow Region. The volume of investments in the construction of one to three plants is estimated at 10 billion rubles, but the amount can be adjusted closer to the start of the project.
Snabpolymer Meditsina applied for the creation of two factories for the production of self-destructing syringes in the Krasnodar Territory and the Nizhny Novgorod Region to the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the summer of 2017. The Chinese partner of Snabpolymer Meditsina, Zhejiang Huafu Medical Equipment, together with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, promised to invest 5.2 billion rubles in the project. The Interdepartmental Commission of the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved the conclusion of the SPIC in December 2018.
The SPIC was signed in February 2019 between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and Snabpolymer Meditsina NN. The agreement provided for the construction of a plant on a site of 111,000 square meters in Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region. The volume of investments in the project was estimated at 3 billion rubles, and the capacity of the enterprise at 700,000 items of medical devices per year.
