What seemed a long shot just several months ago has become reality as a Chinese investment firm has announced it is going ahead with the purchase of two large sections of land at the City of Terrace-owned Skeena Industrial Development Park.
Amongst much speculation over which industry or industries would be set up on the site, the city has announced that the first will be an alfalfa protein extraction plant, the first of possibly several different manufacturing plants.
Taisheng International Investment Services, a Burnaby-based investment firm, is making the purchase for $11.8 million from the city of 480 hectares of the industrial park located a couple kilometres south of the Northwest Regional Airport off Hwy 37 South.
Taisheng is the investment arm of the Qinhuangdao Economic Development Zone located on the east coast of China, two hours from Beijing.
“Today’s agreement marks a major milestone for the City and Kitselas. Diversifying our local economy is a priority for council, and this sale will pave the way for industrial development at the Skeena Industrial Development Park, create new employment opportunities and reduce our reliance on residential property and business taxes to fund services,” said Terrace mayor Dave Pernarowski, who has been on business trips twice since November to China to cement the deal.
The alfalfa protein extraction factory will be located on a 13-hectare parcel of the purchased area and bring 170 new jobs to the region, a city release states.
“Taisheng expects land preparation and supporting infrastructure work will begin soon and construction of the first factory could begin in 2017 or 2018,” the release continues.
The area where the one or more factories will be located is directly west of a Kitselas-owned area of the industrial park which Falcon Enterprises is developing as a camp for workers who would build a natural gas pipeline for one of the planned liquefied natural gas plants at Kitimat.