The only remaining partner of the OlyWest group, a three-company alliance that had planned to build a pork-processing plant in Winnipeg, is looking instead to Neepawa.

Hytek Ltd. is in the process of buying the Springhill Farms hog-kill plant in the town of 3,300, located 170 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

If the purchase goes through, plans for a controversial $200-million plant in Winnipeg would be shelved, spokesman Guy Baudry said Friday.
 
"We believe that the OlyWest location in Winnipeg was one of the best locations for a food processing plant," he told CBC News.

"However, if we're successful in the completion of our due diligence with Springhill, we'll formally withdraw our application for OlyWest from Winnipeg."

Neepawa Mayor Bob Durston was pleased to hear Hytek was moving to his community.

"It's very exciting. We're looking forward to this happening," he told CBC's Radio Noon. "It's great for Manitoba, not only for Neepawa."

Baudry said he harbours no ill feelings about the controversy that surrounded the plant proposal in east Winnipeg, which generated heated opposition from business owners and residents who didn't want it located in the area.

"We had a great relationship with the mayor, and we wish to thank the mayor, Sam Katz, for his support through that process," Baudry said. "And the premier, the premier's always been committed to processing in Manitoba."

Provincial and municipal governments had promised financial incentives to bring the OlyWest plant to Winnipeg.

The other two partners in the project, Olymel LP and Big Sky Farms Inc., announced last December they would withdraw from the project, blaming in part a moratorium that the province imposed a month earlier on building new or expanding existing hog operations.