Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Monday, April 02, 2007

BATHURST INLET - The Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project is once again shifting to the forefront of Nunavut development circles after several years of inaction and is again being seen as a means of re-supplying Northern mines and Kitikmeot communities.

The project has gained momentum recently with concerns over the vulnerability of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto ice road to resupply the mines, the need to access remote communities, and issues of Canadian sovereignty.

This fall, project partners Nuna Logistics and the Kitikmeot Corporation will file a Draft Environmental Impact Statement with the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

The project would see a marine port built at Bathurst Inlet and a 211-km all-weather road to Contwoyto Lake, where it would connect with the existing ice road. Ships would travel into the port from the east.

The project has been on hold so long cost and employee estimates need to be recalculated, said Charlie Lyall, president and chief executive officer of the Kitikmeot Corporation.

The initial cost estimate of the project was $162 million, but prices for supplies and building materials have increased, Lyall said.

The project originally received $3 million each from the federal and Nunavut governments. The rest of the money would have to come from private industry.

Tahera Diamond Corp. and other mining firms active in the area are seen as potential partners for the project.

"It would depend on how much it costs and what the various rates were," said Tahera chairman and chief executive officer Peter Gillin.

"If we saw an advantage to participating, we would."

It is expected the project will take two years to construct.

Fuel and prills will be the main items shipped in and ore will be shipped out. Lyall said he expects the price of fuel to decrease for the mines and communities if the port and road are approved.

"It would make our supply issue much more reliable as it's currently relying on the winter road," Gillin said.

Despite a successful winter road season in 2007, he said warming winter temperatures are fuelling the need to come up with an alternative.

"All-weather road proposals are moving up everyone's agenda," Gillin said.

In addition, the facilities could be used as a base for sovereignty patrols, Lyall said.

"It's going to have a huge impact on Canada, not just the region."

For the project to be successful, it must be Inuit-controlled, Lyall said. Jobs will be created for Inuit during and after construction, and he said he hopes fuel trucks will come from Inuit-owned businesses.

With more and more students graduating from high school in the Kitikmeot region and going on to university, the port and road would ensure they had jobs to return to.

"This is a way of saying, 'you stay in school and you are going to be able to work in your own backyard.'"

Hopelessness pervades these northern communities, Lyall said.

"We need to do something about it and this is a small part of trying to solve that problem."