At Monday’s meeting, members of city council were updated by Justin Lawrence, the city’s Director of Industrial Development, on progress at the Yarmouth Yards industrial park.
The most significant item since the last update is the announcement of a $3.2 billion investment by Norwegian firm Vianode to construct a state-of-the-art synthetic anode graphite manufacturing facility that will initially result in 300 new, good-paying jobs.
Plant construction is projected to be completed in the second quarter of 2028 (See photo above).
In general, noted Lawrence, the projects at Yarmouth Yards are on time, and all challenges are being resolved.
There are, however, several cautionary flags in the timeline included in his report.
Foundation work on the PowerCo EV battery gigafactory (see photo below) was pushed back from the third quarter of 2024 to the third quarter of this year, with a completion date for the facility now the second quarter of 2028.
The start of work on the PowerCo training centre has been moved to the beginning of next year from the third quarter of 2024. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2027.
Tree planting and other environmental projects on the massive site have been extended to the end of 2029.
Completion of the Dalewood water reclamation facility has been pushed back to the second quarter of 2029 from the original date of the end of 2028.
And the Highway 3 twinning project and associated interchanges being undertaken by the Ministry of Transportation will continue through 2029.
Written by Ian McCallum
