The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has approved a loan of £4.6 million to Port Salford Holdings Ltd to help deliver their inland port on the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford.
The funding will cover road improvements to reduce congestion around the busy Junction 11 of the M60, and the new link road between the A57 Liverpool Road and Peel Green in Eccles.
Around 20 skilled jobs are also expected to be created with the loan funding.
When complete, the £138 million Port Salford will be the UK’s only distribution park served by rail, road and inland canal shipping. It was one of the only projects in Greater Manchester to receive Regional Growth Fund backing in 2011.
The project, which gained planning consent in July 2009, will be assembled on a 200-acre site in Barton including 40 acres of container yard.
GMCA represents all 10 councils in Greater Manchester, including Salford, and was set up in 2011 to
co-ordinate the region’s regeneration, economy and transport priorities.
Two other job-creation projects will share £2 million in loan funding: B&H Precision Tooling (Stockport), a specialist supplier of tooling for the aerospace industry, and Trafford-based RealityMine, a market research company which is aiming to create 63 new jobs.
Councillor Kieran Quinn, GM Lead for Investment said: “By providing loans to regional projects and businesses at commercial rates we can unlock development that drives economic growth and creates jobs for local people.
“These projects will together directly create more than 100 skilled jobs and through the transport improvements supported at Port Salford will enable the creation of hundreds more.
“Following today’s in principle approval we have asked that the Greater Manchester Investment team work with the businesses to ensure that they can access this funding, and deliver the benefits to local people, as quickly as possible.”
