(DAEGU=NEWSIS) North Gyeongsang Province and SK Plasma, a subsidiary of SK Chemicals, held a groundbreaking ceremony at the bio industrial complex in Andong on May 7 for a blood product plant.

About 150 people attended the ceremony, including North Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kwan-yong, Andong City Mayor Kwon Young-sae, National Assembly member Kim Gwang-lim, SK Chemicals CEOs Park Man Hoon and Han Byung-ro and SK Plasma CEO Kim Jeong-tae.

SK Plasma will invest KRW 100 billion (USD 91.7 million) for the next three years in the blood product plant, which will be built on 31,000 ㎡ of land at the bio industrial complex.

The plant, which will handle 600,000ℓ of plasma annually to produce blood products, is considered a major step for the advancement and specialization of blood product projects.

As the production base of SK Plasma, the plant will help Andong become the mecca of the bio industry and promote the balanced development of North Gyeongsang Province.

“We will continue to invest in the region to build a bio cluster in Andong, to effectively develop the bio industry and revitalize the regional economy and culture,” said Han.

“The bio industry is one of the core projects of the creative economy. We will establish a bio vaccine industrial cluster in Andong to develop the industry as a next-generation growth engine,” said Governor Kim.

jco@newsis.com