Uzbekistan will have its first insulin plant thanks to a Swiss firm which has begun construction in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, the Uzbekistan Daily news web site UzDaily.com reported on Monday.

Swiss company Ival AG will spend $150 million to construct the plant, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2014 while full-scale operations will not begin until 2015.

The 50-acre plant is being built in the Bostanlik section of Tashkent. Upon completion, the plant is expected to have the capacity to produce 500,000 pills and 100 million doses of infusion solutions.

The news agency estimates that 118,000 Uzbeks suffer from diabetes and need the insulin to maintain their sugar levels. While the Uzbek government provides the insulin to diabetes sufferers free of charge, it must import the substance. With this plant, Uzbekistan will no longer have to import the drug.

The Swiss-financed plant will export some of its output, UzDaily.com quoted Ivas AG chief Ernst Harmut as saying.