Core Pharm Sanoat Uzbekistan Summary Of Project Information (SPI)       Project Name    Uzbekistan-Core Pharm Sanoat              Region    Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa        Sector       Project No008164   Projected Board DateJune 1, 1997   Company NameCore Pharm Sanoat   Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders    	The project will be majority owned and managed by Core Healthcare Limited (Core Healthcare) with 60% of the shares.  The minority ownership will be held by the state pharmaceutical association UzFarmProm and two of its affiliates (Technopharm and UzKFITI -- a research institute).  Core Healthcare, based in Ahmedabad, India, has annual sales of about US$60 million and is a major player in the pharmaceutical industry in India as well as internationally -- 25% of its sales comes from exports to about 60 countries, including Uzbekistan and other CIS countries.    Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment    	The total project cost is estimated at US$12 million.  IFCs total investment is expected to be US$7 million consisting of: US$3.5 million A Loan, US$3 million B Loan, and US$0.5 million equity.    Location of project and Description of site    	The project will be located in an existing building, 6 km from the city center of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.  The site consists of a three story building with 5,000 square meters of floor space and the surrounding grounds which are adjacent to UzKFITI -- the research institute had completed the building for pharmaceutical production seven years ago but had not put it to any use.    Description of Company and Purpose of Project    	The proposed project will establish a plant with modern technology and equipment and an annual capacity to produce 6.6 million bottles (500 ml each) of intravenous (IV) fluids and 396 million tablets of generic drug formulations.  About 90% of the pharmaceutical supplies, including IV fluids and tablets, are currently imported in Uzbekistan.  Therefore, the Government has placed a high priority on attracting foreign investment into the pharmaceutical sector in order to save foreign exchange and help reduce the cost of basic medical supplies to the population.    	The project will support the World Banks health sector strategy and initiatives in the country and the Governments efforts to reform the health care sector to improve the delivery of services and supplies in the context of a market-oriented management and financing environment.  In addition, there is a critical need for long-term hard currency funding in Uzbekistan and there are very few sources of project financing on a non-recourse basis.  IFCs participation both as a lender on its own account and as an arranger for syndication will be catalytic in attracting other financial institutions to the project.    Environmental Category and Issues    	This is a category B project according to IFC''s environmental review procedure.  Environmental, occupational health and safety issues associated with this project include: air emissions, adequacy and quality of water supply, liquid effluent treatment, solid and hazardous waste handling and disposal, potential site contamination from present or past uses, fire prevention and emergency response, and workplace air quality, noise and safety.  The sponsor has presented plans to address these issues and demonstrate the proposed project will comply with applicable governmental and WB requirements.    The  is  from the Public Information Center.       Date SPI sent to PIC     May 1, 1997      For Additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit -   telephone: (202) 473-7711   facsimile: (202) 974-4384  Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).