A $35 million infrastructure program to partially fund wastewater treatment facilities for agricultural processing plants has been announced by Alberta Agriculture.
The program’s money comes out of existing government resources and is available for the next three years, said a news release. In 1998-99, $10 million is available, another $10 million is offered for 1999-2000 and in 2000-2001 up to $15 million is available.
The program was announced by premier Ralph Klein and agriculture minister Ed Stelmach during a sod turning for a potato processing facility in Taber. The Municipal District of Taber is eligible for up to $5 million from the province toward total wastewater costs, estimated at $15 million.
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The program is based on a two-tiered system with smaller municipalities eligible for more money than larger urban communities.
Municipalities may apply for up to one third of the required costs for projects in communities with a population under 30,000. A maximum of 15 percent of infrastructure costs are possible for municipalities with populations over 30,000.
The majority of Alberta municipalities fall in the category of less than 30,000 people, said Ron Popek of the processing division of Alberta Agriculture.
“In rural Alberta, they don’t have the population and tax base to support infrastructure on their own.”
The money is only available to municipalities that already secured matching municipal and private sector investment. Capital costs must be more than $2 million.
The government has said it will not provide direct funding to any company that wishes to locate in the province. Nor will it support one community over another trying to attract business.
Only applications submitted by municipalities will be considered. Projects or components of projects constructed in anticipation of future development do not receive funding.
