Projects Receiving Funds Announced

By 250 News

• The Commonwealth Health Corporation will receive a repayable contribution of $1,000,000 to renovate the former Chances gaming centre in downtown Prince George.   The building will become the Commonwealth Medical Centre. Project work will include complete interior renovations and minor outer facade upgrades. Once complete, the Medical Centre will provide a variety of integrated medical services to the community and will support the Northern Cancer Centre.

• Conifex Inc. will receive a repayable contribution of $8,500,000 to re-modernize their lumber drying and finishing equipment. The installation of more sophisticated technology available in lumber drying, finishing and grading will allow for more value-added products. These products, along with the new markets they will penetrate, will allow the company to move to a two-shift operation resulting in 60 new employees at the mill and 100 new jobs involved in logging and fiber delivery.

• Del-Tech Manufacturing Inc. will recieve a repayable contribution of $5,500,000 to build a thermal oil plant which will be leased to Canfor’s Mackenzie sawmill to increase its energy efficiency. This will create 24 new jobs and also allow for training of many of the sawmill’s employees

• Northwest Wood Preserves will receive a repayable contribution of $2,000,000 to purchase a fingerjoint plant and construct a complimentary new pellet plant on the Vanderhoof Speciality Wood Products site. The pellet plant will utilize 100% of the residual waste from the fingerjoint plant. The initiative aims to maintain 12 jobs at a local trucking company, as well as create 12 jobs at the pellet plant and 20 temporary construction jobs.

• Pinnacle Pellet WL Inc. will receive a repayable contribution of $1,935,000 to build and install a new biomass decontamination, preparation and dehydration system. With the addition of the new system, Pinnacle Pellet will hire four additional labourers for its shifts, as well as an additional maintenance worker. These five jobs will be permanent, high-paying jobs. In addition, there will be new jobs created for the duration of the the construction phase. Once the new system is in place, the plant will be able to process more wood, which will create additional indirect jobs in the region.

• Pinnacle Pellet Meadowbank Inc. will receive a repayable contribution of $250,000 to install a biomass decontamination and preperation system to its plant. By adding this system to the plant, Pinnacle will be able to use new, less processed fibre from various sources while reducing additional repair and maintenance costs caused by fibres contaminated by rocks and metal debris. The installation of the new system will create 5 new jobs and training opportunities.

• Doig River Environmental Ltd. Partnership will receive a repayable contribution of $614,301 to develop a secure landfill facility in north eastern British Columbia near Fort St. John. The new facility will address the environmental concerns held by the Doig River First Nations (DRFN) in the area regarding contaminated soil, provide a cost effective solution to oil and gas producers operating in the area, create additional revenue for the DRFN and other local First Nations, and increase employment within the First Nations communities in the area. This project is expected to employ 20 individuals for the construction period, and then create five to eight new full-time jobs at the landfill.

Northern Development Initiatives Trust CEO Janine North says the projects were selected because they created the  highest number of jobs over the next 19 months, had the most  financial input from other sources.

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