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Kamloops/Thompson School District sells land to TELUS(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 23 August 2011 Release date- 22082011 - Kamloops, B.C. - The Kamloops/Thompson School District is selling an un-used 11.5-acre parcel of industrial property to TELUS for $7 million. The agreement was finalized on August 4. TELUS will build a green data centre on the property once environmental remediation and construction plans are complete. 'This is a good deal for our school district and for Kamloops taxpayers,' said Ken Christian, Chairman of the Board of Education. 'Considering our annual capital budget for equipment, new computers, vehicles, and construction projects at local schools is just $1.2 million, this new funding will allow us to do a great deal to enhance our children's education. The new jobs TELUS will create with their data centre will also mean more children in our schools and more jobs for our local economy.' Under provincial Ministry of Education legislation, school districts must use funds from the sale of property for capital spending, rather than day-to-day operations. The district was not using this land as it is in an industrial area inappropriate for school district use, but it is an ideal site for a TELUS data centre. TELUS is enhancing its national network of data centres and related facilities drawing upon green hydro power, natural cooling and other technology to make them among the most environmentally sustainable operations of their type in North America. 'This property offers us the geological stability and access to reliable power, our telecom network, and the strong labour force we need for a data centre, as well as numerous features that will help TELUS build one of North America's most environmentally-sustainable data centres,' said Bert Braybrook, TELUS' customer service director in Kamloops. 'Owing to the site's industrial past we will be doing some environmental remediation work this year and finalizing our construction plans. We plan to begin construction in 2012.' TELUS will announce additional details about the data centre in the future as plans are finalized. About TELUS TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.9 billion of annual revenue and 12.3 million customer connections including 7 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 350,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees will, by year-end 2011, have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Ten TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com. To learn more about TELUS' commitment to the community, please visit TELUS.com/community. For more information, please contact: Shawn Hall TELUS Media Relations (604) 697-8176 [email protected] Ken Christian, Chairman School District No. 73 (Kamloops/Thompson) (250) 374-0679 [Editorial queries for this story should be sent to [email protected]] ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2011 Electronic News Publishing - |