Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Pelly Bay (Aug 06/01) - A fuel resupply project that cost the government nearly half a million dollars has come up short.

According to Quinn Taggart, senior administrator for Kugaaruk/Pelly Bay, hamlet officials recently asked community members to be minimize the amount of diesel fuel they use in the weeks to come.

The notice was surprising because just three months ago, the territorial government paid $488,079 to fly in 297,000 litres of diesel and 298,000 litres of gasoline.

The resupply mission -- requiring 24 trips using a Hercules aircraft -- was supposed to provide the hamlet with enough diesel to last until the tanker sealift arrives Sept. 5.

"Based on the July 25 dip of the tank, we only have 88,000 litres of diesel fuel left," said Taggart.

"We're in conservation mode," he said.

Furthermore, because the Nunavut Power Corporation, the health centre, the school, the Co-op, private homes and water and sewer trucks all operate on diesel, the oft-troubled road-and-bridge project has been suspended until fuel arrives by tanker.

That leaves Taggart extremely frustrated.

"All of those things use diesel and they come out of that 88,000 litres. That means the first thing that gets turfed is the road project," said Taggart.

Taggart said public works officials told him that the road project's weekly requirement of 5,000 litres would not pose a problem.

"The Department of Public Works assured me they had taken the road project into consideration when calculating how many litres to bring in," said Taggart.

If that is the case, however, Taggart said he cannot understand why the tanks ran dry more than a month ahead of schedule.

He also said calling off the project means 20 workers have lost their jobs for five weeks -- or until a solution is provided.

Meanwhile, six kilometres of road remain incomplete, and Taggart said the delay will likely hurt the project. By the time the fuel tanks are full, the ground may have started to freeze and work will be more difficult.

"I'm very frustrated," said Taggart. "If we have to wait, we will be hard-pressed to get the road finished."

If the road leading to the nearby DEW Line site is not finished by this fall, Kudlik Construction may not be able to access the area to begin cleaning it up, and the Department of National Defense may not contribute the $400,000 they promised.

Brent Boddy, the director of public works in the Kitikmeot region, was out of the office last week and unable to explain the shortage. The acting director was also unable to comment.

Bobby Gunn, the acting deputy minister of public works, said a solution is being worked on and that he would be able to provide further comment this week.

A boom in population and construction has severely taxed the hamlet's ability to store enough fuel to last for the entire year. However, construction on a new 2.2-million-litre tank farm is scheduled to take place over the next few years.