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Ndilo residents are still waiting for their community paving project to begin. It was scheduled to start on July 15, but has been delayed until at least Aug. 1. - Sarah Ferguson/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Muriel Betsina says she has been waiting more than 30 years for the roads in her community to be paved.

When the Ndilo elder heard it was going to happen this summer, she was ecstatic, but so far this season, there is still no heavy equipment on Ndilo's roads and they're still unpaved.

Now Betsina is losing patience.

"When it was first announced that we would finally be getting paved roads this summer the community was so excited, but now nobody has any idea what is going on; the (construction) crews were supposed to have started by now," she said Thursday. "It's very frustrating"

Last July it was announced that an agreement signed between the City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation would lead to the paving of the main road that traverses the community in 2011, and to the paving of its secondary roads in 2012.

Chris Greencorn, manager of public works for the city, said the agreement allows the $1.4 million cost of paving Ndilo's roads to be split between the Yellowknives Dene and the city over the course of two years. Greencorn says the city and the band will each provide $405,000 to the project in 2011 and will both provide $300,000 to paving efforts in 2012.

The agreement recently led to further discussions between the city and the economic development arm of the Yellowknives Dene, Det'on Cho Corporation. The idea that emerged from those discussions was a contract between both parties that would allow the band to employ its own people to help complete the project, alongside Yk-based engineering firm FSC, who will provide technical assistance, according to Greencorn.

"We support the fact that Ndilo wants to use their own people on the project, but so far, they haven't kept (the city) in the loop," he said.

Roy Erasmus Jr, president and CEO of Det'on Cho corporation, said there have been some stumbling blocks which have delayed the paving project's initial start date of July 15.

"We've had a high turnover rate down at the job office, and a lot of people are on holidays, but we are aiming to begin paving on Aug. 1," Erasmus said.

"The contract between Det'on Cho and the city still needs to be signed, and the Yellowknives Dene are administering the contract; we hope to have it completed by today," Erasmus said on Friday.

"We still are unsure as to how many people we will hire," he added.

Betsina said, at this point, providing jobs to her people should come secondary to the completion of the Ndilo roads.

"It doesn't matter who is employed to pave the roads; most of us don't care about who does it," she said. "Summer is fading away and the bottom line is that the project should be started by now."

"I'm not putting my people down - jobs are wonderful and help keep our people off the street, but what the workers really need if we are going to do the job right is proper training," she said.

"We need qualified contractors to step in and train our nation."

Another 30-year resident of Ndilo, who asked to remain anonymous, echoed Betsina's frustrations.

"I would rather see the roads paved as soon as possible instead of waiting around for people to do something. Paving is a short-term project and it needs to get done before the summer ends," the resident said. "The chief (Ted Tsetta) needs to pull the community together and hold a meeting to address our concerns."

Tsetta could not be reached for comment, but the resident said that a lack of communication is "an ongoing issue for Tsetta.

"I am very disappointed with how the chief is handling the situation; he hasn't talked to the community at all," the man said. "Nobody really knows what is going on."

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