The most significant funding announcement since the construction of NVIT, was announced on Friday at Iron Mountain Music in front of an audience of officials.

Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day was in Merritt to announce that Highland Pellet Manufacturing will receive $2, 452,000 in federal funding through the Community Adjustment Fund.

The fund was created to assist communities like Merritt with populations under 250,000 that have seen their key industries, like forestry, suffer from the economic downturn.

“With the recession we realized right from the start that we had to put some resources in place to be a stimulus to the economy,” said Day.

Fraser-Nicola MLA Harry Lali was on hand to show his appreciation for the federal funding and the hard work Day has put in for the city of Merritt.

“With so many mills having gone down the financial drain,” said Lali.

“The future really is in adding value to the products we have here in BC.”

The pellet plant was the idea of long-time Merritt business people Rob and Jenny McDonald who were able to secure investors for the project with the assurance of the federal funds.

The site for the plant will be on Priest Ave utilizing part of the property that was used for their auto wrecking site.

“We had it all lined up with the engineers and ready to go,” said Rob McDonald.

“With the Woodeville group building a plant in Ontario it was an easy fit.”

The plant in Ontario was put on hold and there energies were directed towards completion of the plant in Merritt.

The project is expected to be completed within the next two months and employ about 35 to 40 positions directly with about another 15 to 20 off-site jobs created in fibre procurement and transportation.

Highland Pellet Manufacturing will produce wood pellets, which are used as an alternative form of energy to heat homes and businesses, as well as to generate electricity.

The pellets will be made from forest waste, including that from mountain pine beetle-killed timber.