Petroleum giant Mobil has accepted an offer from the Bega Valley Shire Council to purchase its former petrol station site on the corner of Market and Monaro Streets, Merimbula.

Council was keen to get the 1500sq metre site as it had identified 600 sqm on its corner as critical to its traffic improvement plans for the town’s CBD.

What the council does with the remainder 900sq m is a subject of speculation at this stage.

At the time of going to press information about the purchase remained classified pending the formal exchange of contracts.

The News Weekly believes that in order to secure the sale the council upped its offer from an original $1.2 million to $1.6 million (inclusive of GST) but in turn it extracted certain undertakings from Mobil regarding the remediation of the site.

The offer to purchase was decided at a confidential meeting of the council on Tuesday, November 10.

The only information available to the public from that meeting at this point is the resolution which states: “That council note the acceptance by Mobil of its offer to purchase 27 Market Street, Merimbula, inclusive of modified clauses in the contract enabling either party to rescind should the remediation works or environmental report not be complete to standard by settlement or by extension.”

The council also resolved that when the contracts have been exchanged all reports on the matter will be declassified.

The decision to purchase the site was taken on a unanimous vote.