$IM grant for abattoir on West Coast

Press, 15 August 1978, Page 2

$IM grant for abattoir on West Coast

The Government has approved a grant of SIM and a loan of 3500,000 from the meat industry reserve! account fur the West Coast! Regional Abattoir and export; packing house at Kokiri. the] Press Association reports. The Minister of Regional j Development (Mr Gair) said' yesterday: “Payment of the; grant and loan is subject to> the settling, to the Govern-! ment’s satisfaction, of cer-; tarn minor details by the I Phoenix Meat Company,! The announcement has pleased the chairman of the; Regional Abattoir Authority,: Mr Mark Wallace, of Hokitika, says the Greymouth re-i porter of “The Press.” “Canterbury meat companies have told us that; they are prepared to have; meat from their West Coast clients killed at Kokiri,” he! said. The new regional abattoir, and the processing company,' the Phoenix Meat Companv,; which will run the packing ■ house, would provide a major industry for the prov-' ince and induce those hold*' ing second-class land to im-ii prove it and bring it into grass-growing production. The local authorities onl

•Ithe West Coast, who com-i L prise the Regional Abattoir ! Authority, are already raist'ing loans to build the abattoir. U The chairman of the West; “Coast Regional Development Council (Mr D. J. Truman)! ;said the council was grat-j | ified by the Government’s; .support. The project had' libeen the council’s top priority since its inception. It; . would use the renewable resources of the region. The abattoir would help’ revitalise the farming industry, apart from softening! the blow of recent forestry' 'decisions. An export killing plant! near the source of the meat! (was extremely important to! | the farmers at the West! Coast. Freight costs in send-! jing stock to the works and! .markets in Christchurch had} jat times been almost prohi*! ■ bitive, and he knew of inistances where farmers, in- . stead of receiving a cheque, had received a bill instead. Mr Truman said approval ; had been given for the local ( bodies to go ahead with i their loan proposals, and the architects had been instruct>ed ta plan the final details. It was hoped that the Ko>kiri complex would be ready; for the 1980 killing season. .