INUVIK
There will be $4.2 million for town utilidor upgrades, thanks to money allocated by the territorial government last week.

The section of utilidor in the area behind Mountainview Apartments is set to be replaced and repaired this summer. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photo

The funding is part of the New Building Canada Plan's Small Communities Fund and was announced by the previous federal government last year. Only now is it being released. Inuvik SAO Grant Hood told the Drum municipal administration has known how much the town would receive for a while but wasn't sure of the exact timing.

"The tender on the utilidor work closes next week, so it's good timing," he said. "We couldn't use it for the water treatment plant, it had to be a new project."

Typically, the town spends about $2 million a year on upgrades to the utilidor system, but the $4.2 million from the federal government will help jump start work in an area difficult to reach.

"We're excited," Hood said. "It lets us accelerate the process. It would have been a lot harder to do in chunks. This allows us to get it all done at once."

The area in question is an older section of the utilidor near the river behind Mountainview Apartments. Hood said nearly a third of the town's sewer system runs through there, making it a relatively impressive engineering project.

Inuvik and Hay River are nearly tied for their allocated amounts from the $16 million New Building Canada Plan, receiving about $4 million each. Other projects receiving funding include a pool and youth centre retrofit in Fort Resolutions, sewer replacement and chipsealing in Norman Wells and water treatment plants in Paulatuk.

"Our government has made unprecedented commitments to support public infrastructure across Canada," said Liberal MP Michael McLeod in a statement released last week. "By working in partnership with every order of government, we will target smart infrastructure investments to produce long-term prosperity and strengthen communities. The Government of Canada is proud to invest in these 13 infrastructure projects, they will have a positive and lasting impact on the quality of life for Northern Canadians for years to come."

Hood said the NWT took a smarter approach to handing out the money than some other jurisdictions. The territorial government allocated the money based on the existing funding formula created by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, while in other provinces towns competed against each other for funding.

"We still had to apply for it," he said. "In my opinion, the GNWT has done it in an excellent way."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.