Viking sells land to developer planning hemp paper plant

A developer has received permission from the Town of Viking to purchase land in the industrial park east of town. Rajan Ahluwalia, CEO of Ultimate Hemp World Inc., plans to start a manufacturing business centred on making products derived from the hemp plant.

“He’s quite excited,” said Town CAO Don McLeod at council’s June 3 meeting. McLeod added that Ahluwalia was waiting on a council motion to apply for the necessary development permits.

Council went into closed session for a discussion, then passed the motion to sell 172.67 acres, legally described as N1/2 of 31 47 12 W4th meridian, which is a half section of property in the East Industrial Park.

“The agreement for sale has been signed,” said McLeod in a later interview.

He added: “This is a standard agreement for small communities looking to attract business and people into town. The agreement signed protects the interests of the town.”

In other words, the town is able to re-acquire the land if the development does not proceed, he said. The developer has six months to get a development permit, and three years to get his project up and running.

If that doesn’t happen, though, “there are mechanics in place to take back the land if it doesn’t work out.” And the town would also be able to take back any improvements done to that land.

The developer has a three-year lease to use the town’s old Civic Centre until a new office building is constructed. Preliminary plans are for it to be built in the downtown area.

Long term plans are to build a hemp paper plant on the industrial site east of town. Meanwhile, in the short term, the company is working on putting a hemp seed mill (for hemp oil and hemp hearts) in a building downtown this month.

Stefanie McNeill, Office Manager for Ultimate Hemp’s location at the old Civic Centre in Viking, felt there may be some confusion around the use of hemp compared to cannabis, and wished to clarify this for the public.

“Hemp seeds have no THC,” she said, referring to the active ingredient in cannabis that makes a person get high and intoxicated. TCH stands for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and is not present in hemp.

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Patricia Harcourt
Editor