City Of Prince Rupert Reaches Out-of-Court Settlement With Forest Company
Prince George, BC – Years of litigation have come to an end, as the City of Prince Rupert has announced its reached an out-of-court settlement with Sun Wave Forests Products Limited that will pave the way for the sale of Watson Island.
According to a news release, the settlement involves the dismissal of three separate claims and subsequent appeals made against the City by the forest company. While specific details of the settlement are confidential, the City of Prince Rupert will not pay any City money to Sun Wave and is responsible for decommisioning the mine over the next 24- to 30-months.
The City’s legal and other expenses have been paid by the Watson Island Development Corporation (WatCo), a consortium of local First Nations and Colonial Coal International Corporation. With clear title to the old pulp mill site, the local government plans to complete a sales agreement with WatCo, that will see the development company re-purpose the mill as a private multi-modal port.
Prince Rupert Mayor, Jack Mussallem is hailing the settlement as ‘excellent news’, saying the private sector can now get to work on decommissioning Watson Island, resulting in numerous local jobs.
Mussallem is passing on congratulations to the new City Manager, Robert Long, for taking on the complicated file and finding a workable solution "that is good for Prince Rupert."
He adds that, given the constant inquiries, it appears the private sector is keen to obtain a contract to repurpose the mill.
Comments
Interesting. No mention of the millions in back taxes that was owed to the City of Prince Rupert.
I’m sure if the City of Prince Rupert had collected these taxes we would hear about it.
As a matter of interest I believe Sun Wave is a subsidiary of a major Chinese pulp and paper Co.
Sun Wave Forest Products, a division of China Paper Corp, purchased the Skeena Kraft Mill, in Prince Rupert in 2006. The City of Prince Rupert offered property tax relief from the nearly $6.5 million in back taxes to Sun Wave, provided the mill was operational by the end of 2007. However the mill was never restarted and taxes never paid, so on Sept 29,2009 the City of Prince Rupert took over the mill ownership.
Seems we now have a settlement, however on the surface it looks like Prince Rupert is out some $6.5 Million in taxes.
Comments for this article are closed.