The much talked about multi-million dollar poultry farm for St. Mark's will no longer become a reality.

This was the message which Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell conveyed to members of the Board of Directors of Grenada Broilers Inc (GBI) at a meeting held last week at his office in the Botanical Gardens in St. George's.

Sources close to the group told GRENADA TODAY that Prime Minister Mitchell informed directors of the government-controlled company that the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration is no longer in a position to finance the project or offer any financial guarantees to the promoters.

He said that the Grenadian leader sought to blame the destruction caused to the island by Hurricanes Ivan and Emily in the past two years which left the government with little or no money to spend on the venture.

The meeting was reportedly attended by GBI board members Dr. Bowen Louison, Curtis Baptiste and Fitzroy James. According to the official, the Prime Minister indicated that government was influenced into halting the project by the recent upsurge of Bird flu disease in the world, and the decision of a key financial institution not to fund the project.

He said that Dr. Mitchell announced that if private investors are interested in pursuing the project they would be welcomed to do so in future. He stressed that during the meeting the Grenadian leader requested Dr. Bowen to join Government's Strategic Policy Advisor, Dr. Patrick Antoine who is also involved in the project to break the news to the nation in the coming week about the collapse of the venture.

He spoke of Prime Minister Mitchell telling the Directors that the time had come "to really level" with the people of St. Mark's and officially inform them that the much-talked about poultry project would not materialise.

He quoted the NNP leader as saying that government would not like "to continue giving the people (in St. Mark's) false hopes". He said that the Prime Minister reminded the GBI directors that over the years the people of St. Mark's have always supported him politically and that he would look at alternatives with their Member of Parliament, Clarice Modeste-Curwen to the poultry project in order to generate much-needed employment for residents in the parish.

The source dropped hints that millions of dollars might have already been wasted by government on the project. He made mention of US$25, 000 that was paid to a company in Trinidad and Tobago, Dominion Capital, to try and source a multi-million dollar loan to get the poultry project started in Grenada.

An additional US$300, 000.00 was paid to another company in the United States "to hold down the prices of equipment" that were needed to get the project started in St. Mark's. The official also disclosed that the Mitchell government had pumped in $2.7 million dollars from the Government Treasury into GBI and that most of the funds have already been used up.

He said that a great deal of this money was used to pay the salaries of some persons who were hired to work for the company and on other expenses. Speculation is rife that although the project is now halted the company is owing thousands of dollars to local entities for work done on its behalf.

Over the years, the overall cost of getting the poultry project started rose from $US7 million some six years ago to an estimated $US12 million in 2006. The Mitchell government has been trying to promote the project as one that is key to making a dent on unemployment in the parish which is regarded as among the poorest in the country.

Opponents of the Mitchell government have often accused the regime of spending too much money on financial guarantees for questionable projects like the failed Call Centers, the Ritz Carlton at Mt. Hartman with an american investor and the hotel and golf course at Levera in St. Patrick's.