FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2007
Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust
Strategic Plan Released
Southern Interior, B.C. – The Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (SIDIT) today released its first, 3 year Strategic Plan which was developed at a strategic planning session held in January.
Jim Thomson, SIDIT Chairman, believes that completion of the 3 year Strategic Plan represents a critical milestone in the Trust’s evolution into a fully functioning funding agency.
“We are now turning our attention to creating the web site, application forms, guidelines, evaluation mechanism and approval process that will enable proponents to access the Trust’s funds,” said Thomson “We are targeting August as the start date for project funding.”
The Mission of the Trust is to support regional strategic investments in economic development projects that will have long lasting and measurable benefits for the Southern Interior.
Starting with close to $52 million, the Trust expects to invest $30 million over the next four years, based on annual disbursements of $7.5 million a year. At the end of that period, based on anticipated investment returns, the Trust expects to have $30 million remaining in the fund, which will serve as an endowment and ensure that the Trust has the resources to respond to future opportunities as they arise.
Thomson believes that with the leveraging that will be achieved with other funding partners, the economic impact will be significant across the Southern Interior. “We plan to deliver on the Trust’s key objective,” he says, “that being the sustainability of our regional economies as measured by incremental job creation, an increased tax base, new revenue generation and economic diversification.”
The Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust was established in February 2006 by an Act of the British Columbia Legislature. It was created with a one-time contribution of $50 million dollars to be used to strengthen and diversify the economy of British Columbia’s Southern Interior.
