CBRM OKs revised terminal agreement
SYDNEY — The dream of a container terminal for Sydney harbour remains afloat, thanks to a new contract extension between the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and promoters of the proposed terminal.
In an 11-2 vote Tuesday night, council approved a three-year extension to the option and development agreement with SHIP (Sydney Harbour Investment Partners), the group working to develop a deep-water, multiuse port on 500 acres within the port of Sydney.
“It’s a weight that needed to be removed,” said SHIP chief executive officer Albert Barbusci. “A vote of confidence is extremely important since we’ve reached this critical stage now. Pre-development is essentially done and now we’re ready to enter this final phase.”
Initially, the agreement was set to expire this year and, according to council, on the table were two 18-month extensions for council to consider. Although negotiations occurred during in-camera sessions, Barbusci said he had asked council for the full three-year extension to accommodate for some lost opportunities — beyond last year’s onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbusci said the reason to extend the option for SHIP to lease the land for the Novaporte container terminal and Novazone logistics park arrives at what he sees as a “crucial time for the project.”
“It was appropriate now because we’re looking at bringing in a number of due diligence teams to the harbour — I’m hoping sometime in July,” he said.
In a separate release, the CEO also said the extension provides “a reasonable time frame for SHIP to finalize the commercial terms with its shipping, rail, financing, government and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partners in order to begin construction of the facilities in 2022.”
MOVING FORWARD
Overall, he said, the new agreement mainly aims to show stakeholders and potential investors that the project is moving forward.
“If we can put a shovel in the ground by 2022, we can have a port operating by 2025,” Barbusci said. “And that’s the key.”
While most of council unequivocally threw their support to the revised three-year agreement, councillors Earlene MacMullin and Glenn Paruch both felt nervous moving away from the initial 18-month contract extensions approved several years ago.
“I don’t see any reason we, as a council, should make the decision to overturn a legally binding agreement of a previous council, which was developed in partnership with SHIP, staff, legal counsel and was ratified by our council that actually has the allowances to meet the three-year ask of today,” MacMullin said. “It makes no sense to me.”
Added Paruch: “Is there any way that if we’re not happy with how this progress goes in the next three years, is there an opt-out clause?”
But what prompted CBRM Mayor Amanda McDougall to support the extension was having Membertou as a partner in the project.
“I’m glad that — and this was made public more than a year ago — Membertou is involved in this project as an equity partner,” McDougall told council. “That is the one thing, I’m not going to lie, that gives me hope. We’ve seen what Membertou is capable of doing … that is giving me confidence that this project is going to move forward.”