Coca Cola İçecek (CCI) Pakistan has announced that it will invest $50 million as it sets up its seventh production plant in the country in Haripur District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

A delegation of CCI Pakistan, including general manager Ahmet Kursad Ertin, met Prime Minister Imran Khan, and announced the investment for the greenfield project the company plans to set up in Haripur, K-P, some 60 kilometres away from the federal capital Islamabad.

“This will be CCI’s 7th production facility in the country,” a statement issued on Wednesday by the company said. “Construction of this new state-of-the art plant site is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2022. It will mainly cater to the beverage needs of northern Pakistan.

“The proposed project will not only bring investment but also create direct and indirect employment opportunities as well as revenue generation for the government.”

During the meeting, Ertin pitched the company as a “leading member of the Pakistan-Turkey Business Council and one of the largest private Turkish investors in Pakistan”.

A report on the socio-economic impact of CCI’s business was also presented to the prime minister.

In a tweet in April, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government announced that K-P is open for business and investment and that Coca-Cola would establish a bottling plant in Haripur. However, the size of the investment was not disclosed at the time.