Terminal tendering takes off
Trout Lake airport building slated for 2015-16 budget year
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
SAMBAA K'E/TROUT LAKE
The Department of Transportation is collecting tenders for an airport terminal in Trout Lake, nine months after the runway was completed.
The Trout Lake airport runway, pictured here in an aerial view, has been operating without an airport terminal after the project ran out of available money. Now, tenders have gone out for the terminal. - photo courtesy of the Department of Transportation
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The 1,066-metre runway began operating in November 2014 after five years of construction.
However, the planned terminal was never built due to project cost overruns amounting to nearly $2 million. As late as April 2015, the government was estimating the appropriate funding would not be in place until the 2016-17 budget year.
Delia Chesworth, director of airports for the Department of Transportation said the department has now revised its budget. The project is to be funded out of the 2015-16 departmental budget.
"The money is coming from the Department of Transportation. We made some changes in the budget to allow for this," she said.
When the runway first opened, the cost of construction for the terminal was estimated at around $450,000. Chesworth confirmed that cost has not changed.
The department is still working with the original designs for the building, which will be 80 square metres in size.
A pre-tender meeting was held Aug. 24 and bidding was set to close at 3 p.m. on Sept. 3
Once that deadline passes, Chesworth said all bids will go to Procurement Shared Services in the Hay River public works building.
"(The bids) will undergo a technical review, and then assuming the project has come in on budget, an award would be made to the lowest compliant bidder," she said.
Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche was unavailable for comment at press time, but has brought the issue of the terminal up previously in the legislative assembly in March when he questioned Transportation Minister Tom Beaulieu about funding for the construction.
At that time, Menicoche said passengers have been left to stand outside in the cold while waiting to board a plane or be picked up after landing.
Chesworth said to the best of her knowledge, the lack of terminal did not create any problems over the winter for fliers.
"It was just business as usual," she said.
If the terminal hits budget, it will bump the total cost of the airport's construction up and over $11.7 million.
Attempts to reach the Sambaa K'e Dene Band for comment were unsuccessful.
