Provincial government taps Colliers to run GTH

The Saskatchewan government is one step closer to divesting itself of the Global Transportation Hub (GTH).

It has selected Colliers International as the company that will operate, manage and sell land at the GTH.

The GTH announced the news Wednesday in a media release. The move is to become effective Oct. 1.

“The government ran it as an independent entity from government, but we think having a national management company that can be efficient in the management and also the national marketing strategy is just a right thing to do,” Don Morgan, the minister responsible for the GTH, said in Saskatoon on Thursday.

The GTH is on a large area of land west of Regina. The provincial government bought and developed it to be a hub for manufacturing, importing and exporting.

But it has been mired in controversy over the last few years, from questions over who made money in the sale of land and how, to the large swaths of empty space that seem difficult to sell.

Morgan said the hope is that Colliers can use its national and international contacts to facilitate sales. He wasn’t sure what Colliers will set for an asking price or whether the company will look to sell the GTH as a single unit or in parts.

“We have a substantial investment of taxpayers’ dollars in it and we’d certainly like to recover all or most of it,” Morgan said when asked what the government would like to get as a return.

“If market conditions were good, we would certainly show a profit on it, but as you’re aware, we haven’t sold land for three years so we’ll take it as it comes. It’s certainly not our intention to fire-sale it or sell it below cost.”

The media release said the government selected Colliers out of five companies that submitted proposals to take over the site. Myers Norris Penny was contracted as “a fairness adviser” to help with that process.

Morgan said he wouldn’t characterize the GTH as a flop given the fact there are 850 workers on site, thousands of trucks visit the facility every week, and some successful businesses are housed there.

“Had the economy stayed strong, we would have been able to market more land,” Morgan said. “But I think it’s an indication of why government shouldn’t be in business and why things should be left to the private sector.”

Asked if the government — knowing what it knows now — would get involved in the GTH again, Morgan replied he didn’t think so. Having said that, he admitted it wasn’t the kind of project that could be done only by the private sector, either.

“It would have been something probably with hindsight that should have been done as a joint venture or some kind of a partnership,” Morgan said. “But putting taxpayers’ dollars at risk for what’s primarily a real estate business project is something that we shouldn’t do.”

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Chris Vandenbreekel