THE future of up to 150 jobs at ALSTOM's Ballarat site continues to hang in the balance.
Shareholders have cleared the way for the troubled French company to proceed with the multi-billion euro capital sale of its Australian and New Zealand transport operations, including its Creswick Rd site, amid a major debt
crisis.
The Opposition yesterday called for Premier Steve Bracks to clarify whether the government would buy the business and reassure ALSTOM employees their jobs were secure.
But a spokesman for Mr Bracks ruled out any move by the government to buy-out the operation and accused the Opposition of scaremongering about job losses.
He said the government wasn't worried about the sale or jobs as the company was "a good business for someone else to take over".
"There's no indication that there's any concern about it closing down or anything like that," he said.
ALSTOM spokeswoman Kimberley Bettens said it was not a foregone conclusion that local jobs would be sacrificed. The decision would rest with the buyer.
"ALSTOM in Australia and New Zealand is a very successful and profitable business ... and we see no reason why that should change," she said.
ALSTOM, which employs about 1000 people, bought the old Ballarat Railway Workshops in 1999 and is an infrastructure partner in the Fast Rail project under the Thiess ALSTOM Joint Venture.
The Ballarat workshops have been the manufacturing, reconditioning and component overhaul centre for Melbourne's train and tram networks, V/Line Passenger, Freight Australia and CFCL Australia.
The international engineering giant announced its sell-off plans after it reported a net loss of $2.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in March.
Opposition acting transport spokesman Phil Honeywood said the government should reveal its stand on the sale.
"If the State Government moves to buy ALSTOM's transport, then their record of managing former private freight and passenger companies has been appalling," he said.