NNSL (Mar 30/98) - The Territorial government is spending $2 million on a study of four proposed roads in the North.

The four projects are the Slave Geologic Province transportation corridor, the Mackenzie Valley highway, a Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik road and reconstruction of Highway 3.

The projects themselves are likely to cost several hundred million dollars.

"We're effectively starting by doing the work on the study," said deputy minister of transportation, Ron Williams. "We're formulating a plan to use as a marketing sales piece for government."

Transportation will use some of the $2 million during the 1998-99 fiscal year to help raise more money for the planning and analysis of new NWT roads.

The GNWT will identify and analyse ways to raise money, study the socio-economic impact, including a benefit-cost analysis, carry out technical and environmental studies.

"About 80 cents from every dollar spent on NWT roads trickles down to Alberta merchants and wholesalers," Williams said.

"So we're going to try to get funding from the government of Alberta."

Transportation will also try to convince the private sector to become a stakeholder in paving the roads to mineral-rich areas.

The roads are important to foster NWT economic development.

Previously, the lack of permanent land-based transportation has impeded the expansion of companies into the North.

"Department of Transportation resources are not sufficient to meet the needs of existing transportation infrastructure, let alone build expensive new roads," Williams said about the need for more funding.

"The GNWT cannot afford to implement these projects on our own."

Each road project will proceed at its own pace, set largely by available money.

And if all four are approved, there will not only be a dramatically improved NWT transportation system, but several thousand new jobs and training opportunities will surface.