The Quebec government will invest $175 million over five years to clean up contaminated land.
David Heurtel, minister for sustainable development, the environment and climate change, made the announcement on Sunday morning with Public Safety Minister Martin Coiteux in Montreal.
Of the funds, $120 million will be devoted to rehabilitating contaminated land owned by the government. The remaining $55 million will be allocated to the ClimatSol-Plus program, which gives grants to the municipal governments and private entities to decontaminate land and erect parks or businesses.
According to Heurtel, the value of unused land in the province amounts to $2 billion.
A previous program, in place between 2007 and 2015, included a $60 million investment in ClimatSol, which helped fund 265 decontamination project and generated investments of $1.6 billion.
