Construction of the Dundurn International Exhibition Centre will not begin this spring and no firm start date has yet to be presented.

Fred Wilson, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dundurn, said negotiations between the RM and Brightenview Development International Inc., which is building the massive wholesale outlet, are ongoing. He said they spoke to Brightenview April 8 and the company did not indicate when construction would begin.

“Everything is still progressing,” said Wilson. “It’s a multi-million dollar project and there is a lot of things that have to fall in place.”

Construction on the 155-acre site located a half-mile north of the Highway 211 and Highway 11 intersection on the east side of the highway was slated to begin in the fall of 2013 and last for 18 to 24 months. Once completed, the centre would potentially house 350 Chinese businesses that would sell wholesale products to buyers in North America and employ over 1,000 people.

“Everything is moving along,” said Wilson. “I’m not starting to get buck fever or anything. I think it is still going to happen, but it’s just taking a little longer maybe than what originally the plans were. Whether they’ll get started this summer, I can’t really (say). But I still feel quite confident that the project is still going to happen.”

In addition to the Exhibition Centre, Brightenview also pledged to help the community build a multi-million dollar community centre in Dundurn that would house a skating rink, swimming pool, hall and office space through a donation towards the costs of the project. Wilson said the new community centre is still in the plans.

“We’ve had some preliminary discussions on it, but we haven’t come up with all the financing on it yet,” he said. “It’s still part of the project.”

Wilson noted there are many people saying ‘I won’t believe it till I see it,’ but he is still confident the centre will become a reality. He said they are just not in a position to “put an exact date or timeline” on construction of it as of yet.