SEZ units in Andhra make equipment to fight against COVID-19

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  16 April 2020 8:02 AM GMT
SEZ units in Andhra make equipment to fight against COVID-19

Vijayawada, April 16: The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Andhra Pradesh are diversifying their activities temporarily, during the Covid-19 crisis, to manufacture medical equipment and support the government’s war against the deadly Coronavirus.

The Synergies Castings Ltd at Duvvada area in Vizag city of VSEZ, an export oriented unit which manufactures specialized aluminium alloy wheels for automobiles, has begun manufacturing Ultraviolet UV- Box, first of its kind in the country for hospital and home disinfection. It is also manufacturing room defoggers for cleaning air continuously, disposable face shields and masks, hand sanitizer kiosks, paper disinfectant and other gadgets.

The Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC), located at Atchutapuram SEZ in Vizag district kick-started the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) to contribute to the war against Covid-19. Though BIAC had closed all its units from the third week of March due to lockdown, it began production of PPE with the available 100 executives, 90 per cent of them Sri Lankan nationals who stay in the quarters of BIAC, said BIAC India partner P. Doraswamy.

In addition to Synergies, several other units in the VSEZ are coming out with manufacture of medical equipment in a big way after their regular production was halted due to the lockdown.

The ministry of commerce has relaxed rules for manufacture of these equipment, said development commissioner of VSEZ, A. Rama Mohan Reddy.

Shintex Apparel at Duvvada SEZ, three units of Brandix India Apparel City, Quantum Clothing, Seeds and Pals Plush in the Kakinada unit manufacture 3.1 crore face masks, 90 lakh medical and surgical gowns and 1 lakh medical aprons. They have been exempted from customs duty.

The pharma units in VSEZ have sufficient reserves of medicines, drugs, chemicals and salts to meet the domestic requirements and export obligations.

Lee Pharma at VSEZ, Duvvada has sought approval for making 5,000 liters of sanitizer. It has already released 1,000 bottles of sanitizers of 200 ml each.

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