Bergur Elías Ágútssson, mayor of the municipality Norðurþing in northeast Iceland, and Halldór Jóhannsson, spokesperson for the Chinese investor Huang Nubo in Iceland, are on their way to China to discuss investments in the municipality with Huang.
Jökulsárgljúfur, near Grímsstaðir in Norðurþing. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
“It is an attempt to secure investment in this region and we are making significant efforts to follow it through,” Gunnlaugur Stefánsson, who presides over Norðurþing’s district council, told Morgunblaðið.
Among the possibilities discussed is Norðurþing acquiring the piece of land Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, in which Huang wanted to invest, with a loan from Huang and then grant him a lease for the land.
Gunnlaugur is certain that such an arrangement would lead to further investments in the region.
Huang Nubo signed an acquisition agreement with the landowners of Grímsstaðir for ISK 1 billion (USD 8.2 million, EUR 6.1 million) on August 24, 2011.
However, a legal exemption was necessary in order for the acquisition to go through and Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson rejected Huang’s application at the end of November, among other reasons, because of the size of the land.
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