Fibre optic line behind schedule
Delayed project sees company facing
daily penalties, looming deadlines
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, November 7, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The troubled Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link, already behind schedule, must cross under three "challenging" rivers and meet an August deadline or the GNWT may need to step in, territorial politicians were told last week.
Rohl workers bury fibre optic line at Fort Simpson during the summer of 2015. Rohl Enterprises was later fired from the project, which is now months behind schedule. - April Hudson/NNSL photo |
The link is a fibre optic line running 1,154 kilometres from south of Fort Simpson up the Mackenzie Valley to Inuvik. The $80 million public-private partnership project was set to be completed by Aug. 31.
There's still 120 kilometres of fibre to install North of Fort Good Hope that includes "fairly challenging" areas, said Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the Financial Management Board. He was updating MLAs about the project at a committee meeting Nov. 1.
Those challenging areas include drilling to install the fibre under the Rabbitskin, Loon and Tieda rivers.
Drilling through the riverbed of the Rabbitskin has been attempted four or five times without success, he said.
Kalgutkar told MLAs the GNWT is closely examining the plans for the remaining construction to ensure the project is properly installed.
Northern Lights General Partnership, a consortium of Ledcor Developments Ltd., Ledcor Technical Services, and Northwestel Inc. was awarded the contract to build and then maintain the fibre line for 20 years.
A subcontractor on the project - Rohl Enterprises - was fired by Ledcor. It prompted a lawsuit and counter suit between the companies.
With the fibre line already months past when it was supposed to be in service, the Northern Lights faces "significant financial implications," Kalgutkar said of a $10 million payment withheld until the line is deemed to be working. The consortium building the project also faces $6,000 per day fines for missing the deadline.
Next summer the contractor must meet two key deadlines. The first comes in May when the contract requires the project to be complete.
If it doesn't meet the date, Kalgutkar told MLAs the consortium will be in default to both its financial lenders and GNWT.
Kalgutkar said the financial backers will carry out a risk assessment a month before the deadline to see if Ledcor can finish by the May deadline. If not, the lenders can take action "to ensure that Ledcor or another contractor does have a plan in place that the fibre is done," Kalgutkar said.
Then comes a final deadline in August 2017 that, if the line isn't in service, could see the GNWT step in.
He said some parts of the line will be activated this month, with data re-routed around portions not yet completed.
The line will link the Inuvik satellite dish station to southern Canada. Foreign space agencies are using the station to collect data from satellites orbiting Earth. The GNWT has also said the line will bring higher Internet speeds to communities along its route.
