KHABAMIUE/COLVILLE LAKE - Residents of Colville Lake are taking roadway construction into their own hands.

At the beginning of the month, eight local workers resumed last year's task of building roads in the tiny community. Road construction was one of the priorities the community identified in its 10-year capital plan, above equipment such as a fire truck.

Joseph Kochon, the band manager and senior administrative officer, said the roadwork the community has done over the past two years will likely end up costing about $1 million.

"It's not a cheap job," he said.

"One thing just leads to another. We need a water truck, we need a sewage truck, we need fire trucks, so all that is all planned out over the next 10 years."

The community needs roads before it can get trucks, and right now crews are finishing up the road to Colville Lake's sewage lagoon. Then they'll move on to putting in driveways and laying down gravel.

If all goes well, they hope to have the work complete by next winter.

About 30 residents recently applied for licences that would allow them to operate heavy machinery, so the construction allows them to watch and learn, Kochon said.

"We have all our young people working. They're trained right on the job, so they are gaining a lot of experience," he said.

"The good thing is that we're building it ourselves and someday down the road we'll probably give ourselves a pat on the back that we built our own community."