City strikes quick deal to keep Parmalat milk plant in Winnipeg

Winnipeg city councilapproved the sale ofcity-owned land in the St. Boniface Industrial ParktoParmalatCanada Inc., Wednesday morning, for the expansion of a new milk processing plant.

The deal was approved early Wednesday at a special meeting of the executive policy committee then given the OK by council shortly afterwards, duringthe last council meeting before summer break.

The plant at the new site willreplace the current aging facility in St. Boniface. There city said the deal was urgent because thereis a time constraint withParmalatunder a time crunch to start construction.

"They have a very tight schedule and we're rushing this through, in a sense, because they need to be in the ground by August this year," said the cityCAODoug McNeil.

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The deal requiresthe city and province to pay$8.2 million to service the land. With $2.59 million in revenue from the sale of the land, the net cost is$5.61 million.

The city says it will recoup the payment over 18 years through property and business taxes generated by the new plant.

"I am very pleased that the proposed agreement with Parmalat sets their business up for success right here in Winnipeg,"said Mayor Brian Bowman.

"Parmalat will lead development in the industrial park as the catalyst to attract further industrial business to set up as we partner to service the area."