The Federal Government has indicated it is willing to help any potential investor in a Tamar Valley pulp mill.
State Opposition leader Will Hodgman met the Prime Minister and senior government ministers in Canberra this week and says they are prepared to consider assistance to develop the mill.
Receiver Korda Mentha is selling the permits, design and site of the former timber company Gunns Bell Bay pulp mill proposal.
He says the Government is positive about the potential for a mill to be built.
“I’m very pleased to report that the Federal Government not only shares our strong support for this important project here in Tasmania, but is also prepared to consider those options that might be available.”
But Mr Hodgman refused to speculate about what kind of help the Government might offer.
He says he can not discuss the form of assistance while the project is up for sale.
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The pulp mill project was shelved with the collapse of Gunns last year.
A spokesman for Korda Mentha says expressions of interest close at the end of the month and all offers will be considered.
Victorian-based Tamar Valley Renewables wants to build an 80 megawatt wind farm on the site to power up to 40,000 households.
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• John Lawrence, Tasfintalk: A new forest way? There are occasional sightings of the pulp mill ghost. Korda Mentha says there is considerable interest in the pulp mill. They said that about Gunns’ sawmills which we now discover was sold to New Forests for $21 million plus stock? Recently Leg Co member Ivanasarus Dean urged fellow members to vote for a motion affirming support for the pulp mill and State Opposition leader Will Hodgman reportedly met the Prime Minister and senior government ministers in Canberra this week and says they are prepared to consider assistance to develop the mill. That sounds like an expression of disinterest, implicitly confirmed by Mr Hodgman when he refused to speculate about what kind of help the Government might offer.
