Quebec has engulfed $ 13.3 million in public funds in a temporary access path for the Northvolt battery factory which may never see the light of day.
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“This access could also be used for any other industrial project on the site, if the Northvolt project is not carried out as initially planned,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Economy, Jean-Pierre d’Auteuil.
At the start, Quebec had planned a subsidy of $ 22.6 million in Saint-Basile-le-Grand “for the development and dismantling of a temporary access path”.
However, in this $ 22.6 million, $ 13.3 million has already been spent, even if the battery plant may never see the light of day without a buyer.
Access overlooks route 116.
Photo Francis character
A railway near the Northvolt field
Photo Francis character
Northvolt teams are carrying out minor work on the ground.
Photo Francis character
This path was to allow trucks to enter and leave the site without going through the streets of the neighboring neighborhood.
At Northvolt, it is said that major work has been on a break since December 2024, but that teams “continue minor work and maintenance activities”.
The manufacturer maintains having paused the construction at the end of December because it was returned to concrete foundations. She then planned to start them again in the spring.
“The procedures continue to identify a buyer for the project,” said one.
“More private investment»
In September 2023, Prime Minister François Legault was delighted with the factory project of $ 7 billion in Northvolt. He spoke of it as “the biggest private investment in recent history in Quebec”.
Taken from parliamentary mail
Today, his Minister of Economy at the time, Pierre Fitzgibbon, is no longer there. More than $ 270 million in public funds have been lost. Northvolt said bankruptcy in Sweden last March.
Quebec, however, has a legal mortgage in the field of $ 240 million.
The satisfied mayor
For the mayor of Saint-Basile, Yves Lessard, all the work around the site is far from being lost, because his municipality has in their hands a site of great value.
Yves Lessard, mayor of Saint-Basile
Courtesy
“The land has a fairly exceptional vocation,” observes the elected official.
“The land has acquired additional value with the arrival of Northvolt. There was a need to have access to Route 116, ”concluded the first magistrate.
Battery sector: AIDE AUTHORIZED
- And Maska Lithium: 675 m $
- EcoPro Cam: 322 M$
- Northvolt: 270 m $
- Northvolt (Terrain a guarantee): 240 m $
- Electric lion: $ 158.9 million
- Ultium-CAM: 151,9 M$
- TIME: 150 m $
- New graphite world: $ 83.3 million
- Vale: 55 M$
- Addepergie: $ 34.2 m
- Volvo: $ 22.7 million
- Recyclage Lithion: 22,5 M$
- Nova Bus: 19,1 M$
- Nano One: 18 M$
- H55: 10 M$
- Wonder: 7.5 m $
- Ingeniarts Technologies: 6,8 M$
(Source: Response from a request for access to information from Journal obtained from the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy)
