MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Abattoir project for Comodoro Rivadavia.

The Italian fashion and textile group Benetton is planning to build an abattoir in Comodoro Rivadavia to promote sheep farming.

The Compañía de Tierras del Sud Argentina controlled by the Benetton family made the official presentation of the project to Chubut province governor Mario Das Neves, city mayor Raúl Simoncini and the ruling board of the local Rural Society.

"It's quiet an important project, involving several million US dollars and jobs, which we still are considering and will announce in the near future", said a spokesperson from the Governor's office.

"We could be talking of an overall investment of 10 million US dollars", admitted the spokesperson, most of which in Comodoro Rivadavia.

The farming enterprise Compañía Tierras del Sud Argentina was founded in 1891 expanding to different areas of Argentina. In 1991 it was purchased by the Benetton family group which expanded further into farming land in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz and Rio Negro. The Benetton family through Edizione Holding is estimated to have invested in Argentina over 80 million US dollars and controls 900,000 hectares of land.