The City of Lévis wants to acquire by expropriation lands belonging to Rabaska, in the east of its territory, which are promised to the Port of Quebec, which is now threatening to withdraw its offer.
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The municipal council will adopt Friday afternoon, during a special meeting, a resolution for the “acquisition by expropriation” of part of the land belonging to the Rabaska company, located in the Lévis-Est sector. The targeted lots represent approximately half of Rabaska’s properties in Lévis.
Rabaska had planned an LNG port project there, which had been very controversial and had ended up being abandoned in 2013. Since then, the land has been coveted by the Port of Quebec, which has even signed an offer to purchase that has been in effect for a few years. .
The Port obtained authorization from the federal government to acquire the 272 hectares. He aimed to complete the transaction by the end of the year. The CEO, Mario Girard, recently repeated that no project is in the cards at this location and that the Quebec Port Authority (APQ) rather wants to increase its land reserve.
The Port of Quebec surprised
The Port learned with “surprise” of the intentions of the City of Lévis. He is now asking elected officials to postpone the adoption of the resolution, otherwise this gesture would send “a very bad message, in particular to the local, national and international business community”, it was argued in a press release. The APQ threatens to withdraw. “For the Port, there is no doubt that the presence of a port and a shipyard like Davie constitutes an important power of attraction for a region. To get the most out of it, however, it is important to have a global vision. A partial expropriation of the Rabaska lands would therefore necessarily lead the Port to reconsider the acquisition of the Lévis-Est lands.”
According to the Port, Lévis’ gesture is “sudden, unilateral and incomprehensible”, jeopardizes the realization of the Québec-Lévis industrial-port zone and “threatens to plunge the development of the sector into years of stagnation.”
The Port tried in vain to contact Mayor Gilles Lehouillier.
Recently, a group of land-use planning experts, GIRAM, opposed the purchase by the APQ, supported by the Union of Agricultural Producers, which wants the land identified as an industrial-port zone to be returned within the agricultural sector.
The City “would be had 100%”
On Friday, Gaston Cadrin, from GIRAM, was ambivalent about this twist. He wonders what will happen to the other half of the Rabaska lands. He notes all the same that the City of Lévis seems to agree with the arguments of his group. “The City wanted to be a partner with the Port, but what they realized was that if they were partners, they would be 100% taken in.” By letting land be acquired by the federal government, the city loses its ability to direct development and zoning, he says.
On Friday morning, Mr. Lehouillier’s office did not immediately want to explain the decision. The mayor will hold a press scrum after the extraordinary session, in the afternoon.
“Lack of preparation”
The opposition of Repensons Lévis deplores the convening of a meeting with one day’s notice. Chief Elhadji Mamadou Diarra and the two elected officials, Serge Bonin and Alexandre Fallu, point out that several questions remain unanswered. This indicates, according to them, a “lack of preparation”.
As for Chantier Davie, the director of external affairs and industrial participation, Marcel Poulin, indicated that the company was not aware of the intentions of the City and that it would not comment.
More details to come…