The State Government plans to relocate fertilizer manufacturer Incitec Pivot to Gillman as part of its controversial deal to sell land in the area, InDaily can reveal.

Renewal SA board documents seen by InDaily reveal that 10.29 ha at Gillman is being held for “the potential relocation of Incitec Pivot” from Port Adelaide, expected to be within the next three years.

The land being held for Incitec has been sliced out of the 400 ha site controversially sold to developer Adelaide Capital Partners in December.

According to the board documents seen by InDaily, the Incitec holding is part of that deal. The documents do not make clear if Incitec has accepted the site or if any money has changed hands.

The deal is effectively a double win for the Government, which earns money from the land sale while at the same time completing an election promise to relocate the plant from Port Adelaide.

In January the State Government announced it had – through land-holding agency Renewal SA – bought Incitec Pivot’s 10.2 ha Port Adelaide site for $15 million. The land was then leased back to Incitec for 3 years with the option of a further three year extension.

Renewal SA said at the time the money would be recouped by selling the site to light industry once the fertilizer manufacturer left.

Incitec has long been a stumbling block to the Government’s plans for Port Adelaide. Fertilizer materials stored there present an explosion risk, according to a Safework SA report – although the company denies this.

That alleged explosion risk has stymied plans to develop the area.

That led the State Government to announce in 2010 that it would work with Incitec to relocate, with an initial deadline of 2012 to have the plant out.

In 2012 InDaily reported Renewal SA was working on a relocation study to find alternate sites.