6 local Enterprise Zone projects get tax credits

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

The Mon Valley is proving to be the total package for growing — and new — businesses. 

On Tuesday, the Mon Valley Alliance announced that six projects in the area have been awarded $2.4 million in tax credits to develop and expand their operations. 

The tax credits will leverage an additional $21.3 million in private investments and create nearly 500 jobs in communities struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Projects approved are the expansion of the General Electric facility and blight remediation to two buildings in Speers, construction of two new industrial buildings in Fallowfield Township and expansion of the Barchemy facility in Donora.  

All the projects that will receive funding are part of a Regional Enterprise Zone established through the Alliance in September.

In Speers, three projects will benefit. The first was announced last November when General Electric officials revealed that the company would close its high-voltage electrical switchgear plant in Waynesboro, Ga., and relocate to the Mon Valley. GE received $500,000 in an investment from Alston Grid LLC through the program to relocate.

The move will consolidate the company’s footprint and help reduce costs, including capital expenses needed at the Waynesboro plant over the next five years. Once the plant opens in the Speers Industrial Park, approximately 135 new jobs will be available. 

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