DENILIQUIN Abattoirs could reopen next year with up to 100 jobs created, six years after the drought forced its closure.
That comes with the impending sale of the property to Global Crown Pty Ltd.
The abattoir had been offered for sale by the estate of the late Farouk Fami, who ran the abattoir under the company Famicorp Pty Ltd.
A sale price has not been disclosed.
Deniliquin Abattoirs operated as an accredited Halal slaughterhouse from 1990 until its closure during the drought in 2007.
The property is now under contract, with an announcement on its reopening possible as early as next month.
The new owners said if everything proceeded as planned, the abattoir was expected to be reopened in the second quarter of next year.
Global Crown chief executive John Wynan said he understood the Deniliquin community was eagerly awaiting news on the reopening “because of the significant economic boost it will provide to the region”.
“Negotiations have progressed steadily to this point,” he said.
“Settlement of the sale has not been completed, but it is in the final stages and we are confident that it is imminent.”
Deniliquin was hard hit by job losses over more than a decade, with hundreds of jobs going with the shutdown of the former RTA’s divisional headquarters, the regional headquarters for the Department of Education and Murray Health headquarters.
Then came the loss of the town’s rice mill, a major employer in the town, and the abattoir.
Mr Wynan said that when it reopened, the abattoir would continue as a Halal slaughterhouse, for which it retained full accreditation.
The abattoir would focus solely on the sheep industry, with early production runs of about 1000 sheep a day.
The goal would be to increase this to full production of 3500 sheep a day as soon as practical.
Mr Wynan said the abattoir would employ about 100 staff “at its peak”, which was likely sometime next year.
Advertisements for expressions of interest and recruitment are expected to appear early next year.
Deniliquin mayor Lindsay Renwick said the council had been working closely with Mr Wynan and was looking forward to the abattoir reopening.
“This will be a significant economic boost to our community in 2013,” Cr Renwick said.
“Hopefully, early next year, our town will return to the days when our rice mill and abattoirs were both fully operational.
“They were our major employers and to lose both for a period of time was a huge blow.”
Cr Renwick congratulated Mr Wynan and Global Crown on the confidence it had shown in the region and the future of the sheep industry.
