Plans which will create over 450 jobs in Northern Ireland’s worst unemployment black spot have been unveiled.
Work could begin on the first phase of a £50m Three Rivers project — planned for the Strabane-Lifford border area — next year.
However, the final phase could face major problems as it is dependent on the A5 road project, which was recently axed.
Outline planning permission for half of the 50-acre site has already been approved.
This includes a 90-bed hotel and foodstore with filling station, allowing Riverside Building and Development to move to the next step of beginning construction.
When completed, the site will include a sports centre, wildlife centre, hotel, employment park and footbridge which will cross the border between the two towns.
Managing director Niall McAtee said when all three project phases are complete the number of jobs created will be in excess of 450.
He added: “These 450 jobs are real jobs and will be created in phase one of this project and will be with the hotel and the foodstore, which will be the big economic driver of the whole scheme.
“Once that has been completed we will be in a position to move to phase two which will be the garden world, the employment part and the foot and cycle path.
“These two phases can go ahead without the A5 but the third phase is dependent on the A5. But I have met with Sammy Wilson and Martin McGuinness on separate occasions to emphasise how critical it is that the stretch of this road between Derry and Sion Mills is done.
“We have been working on this project since 2006 and we are confident it will be completed.
“There have been too many examples in the past of people promising something they can’t deliver, and what we have in this plan and proposals is deliverable.”
The MP for the area, Pat Doherty, has been involved at all stages to bring the project to fruition.
He said: “This revised planning application to substantially increase the scale of the development to 49 acres with a projected investment of now over £50m is not only a major vote of confidence in the people of this area but represents the biggest opportunity for investment in this area for generations.”
Mr Doherty welcomed the “major good news story in this climate where bad economic news stories are our daily diet”.