A liquidator has been appointed to wind up Nectar Farms Management Limited, the company which proposed to build a hydroponic glasshouse vegetable farm with six, five-hectare glasshouses just outside Stawell, Victoria.
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The $100 million hydroponic vegetable farm was envisioned to create about 250 ongoing jobs and 300 direct and indirect construction jobs in the region.
On April 21, at a general meeting of the members of Nectar Farms Management Limited, it was resolved Nectar Farms Management Limited be wound up and that Ian Purchas be appointed liquidator.
The Stawell Times-News has contacted Mr Purchas for comment.
Northern Grampians Shire Council Mayor Murray Emerson said the news was disappointing.
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"The Northern Grampians Shire is very disappointed with that decision but unfortunately that is out of our control," he said.
"We've done a lot of work over the past seven to eight years to get this project up and running.
"Unfortunately now the liquidators are taking over which puts the project in real jeopardy."
Cr Emerson said there was a lot of work going on in the background to gain an understanding of what the announcement means for the Bulgana Green Power Hub.
"There are talks between the shire and investors and certainly the state government," he said.
"That's in very early stages - but we'll see what comes out of it."
Nectar Farms was pitched as an extremely unique project, relying solely on renewable energy to run the glasshouse project.
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Cr Emerson said Council was continuously looking for projects and investors into the region.
"Council has had conversations about where we might be able to go to and how we might be able to progress with this wonderful opportunity there within the energy business," he said.
"We're looking at that and discussing it. We have no idea at the moment where we can take it."
The Stawell Times-News contacted Stephen Sasse, former chief executive of Nectar Farms, who advised all comment would need to come from the liquidator.
In 2020, Mr Sasse told the Stawell Times-News the Stawell project was still going ahead - it was just waiting to finalise legal documentation of funding.
In October 2019, the Stawell Times-News reported production would commence as early as November in 2019.
In November 2018, community briefing sessions were hosted at Joel Joel and Stawell which revealed information about the project.
In 2017 it was releveled the project was to be moved away from the original Phase One site off Leviathan Road to the Bulgana Green Power Hub site, which it would share with the then proposed 63-turbine wind farm set to be built by renewable power company, Neoen.
Stawell Times-News has contacted Neoen and the Bulgana Green Power Hub for comment.
Nectar Farms had also proposed a $116 million high-tech glasshouse project In Oberon NSW. In 2017, the Oberon Review reported it would not go ahead in Oberon because the land in the district is too hilly.
A spokesperson from Nectar Farms at the time, confirmed the company would not be building in Oberon and was looking for other sites.
The Oberon project was first announced in February 2016, when Nectar Farms announced the company would invest a total of $116 million to bring a staged three-year construction to Oberon.
Previous coverage:
October 2017 - Nectar Farms announces plans to shift site
Cassandra Langley
Rural and regional story-telling is where my passion lies. Email: cassandra.langley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Rural and regional story-telling is where my passion lies. Email: cassandra.langley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
