PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - While the recent funding announcement that will see the resurfacing of the Pangnirtung airstrip may be welcomed news to some, a former Pangnirtung resident said the community would be better off with a new airstrip.

"It's just another Band-Aid," said Andrew Dialla, a former resident of the community and past hamlet councillor during the 1980s and 1990s.

A joint investment between the territory and the federal government of $1.2 million will permit the airport airstrip to be resurfaced. Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq and Gordon MacKay, assistant deputy minister of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, made the announcement on July 13 at the Pangnirtung Community Centre.

The GN will be contributing $300,000 while the feds will foot the bill for the remaining $900,000, said John Hawkins, director of transportation policy and planning with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. The funding is coming from the provincial-territorial base fund through Infrastructure Canada, falling under the Building Canada Plan.

Hawkins said minor work on the airstrip was last done in 2007. This included gravel work and an interim repair. He said the last major work was done in 2002.

The airstrip, which is about 40 years old, runs through the middle of the community and is bordered by homes, the Co-op and the high school.

He said the runway is made of several layers and had a strong layer of granular materials at the top.

"The top layer is pretty much gone," Hawkins said, adding it will be replaced with manufactured gravel and crushed stone.

A new addition to this will be "soil stabilization" materials which Hawkins said will help bind the materials together in hopes to prevent dust.

Mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik said every year there is always a lot of dust when planes are landing and taking off.

"It is worse with the increasing number of flights coming in," he said.

He said the hamlet has been lobbying the GN for the last 15 to 20 years for a new airstrip.

In addition to causing dust, Sowdlooapik said the airstrip is riddled with holes that do a lot of damage to the planes' tires.

"It did create a little more drag for the airplanes," said Hawkins.

Sowdlooapik said the community is excited for the resurfacing to begin as it will improve safety, create jobs and improve travel options to and from the community.

For Dialla, while the resurfacing of the airstrip means it will be safer, the ultimate solution he said is to move the airstrip.

"The more money they put into the old airstrip they are pushing further away from getting a new airstrip," he said.

He said during the 1980s and early 1990s, residents used to walk across the airstrip as a shortcut to get across town faster. Workers would close the gates if there was a plane coming through.

Dialla said one year, the GNWT Department of Municipal and Community Affairs said pedestrians were no longer allowed on the runway. In agreement to do this, Dialla said the hamlet was promised a sidewalk alongside of the airstrip.

Almost 20 years later there is still no sidewalk.

He said there have also been some close calls where planes have almost skidded into the houses built near the runway.

"We've been lucky so far," said Dialla.

As for when the resurfacing will be done, Hawkins said his department will be putting the work out to tender. If the work is done this year, the residents of Pangnirtung could have a resurfaced runway by the end of September.

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