Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Apr 17/02) - A hefty pot of federal money will help improve safety at the airports in Coral Harbour and Rankin Inlet.

Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell made the announcement last week.

Coming from the federal government's Airports Capital Assistance Program, a total of $396,000 will be spent on improving the runway snowblowers in the two communities.

Richard Mackenzie, the director of Nunavut Airports for the Department of Community Government and Transportation, said the funds were a welcome addition.

"We're always pleased when we're approved for ACAP," said Mackenzie, a resident of Rankin Inlet.

Mackenzie oversees all 25 of Nunavut's airports.

"The applications are very time-consuming and it's great when we have success in getting federal dollars," he said.

In Rankin Inlet, $179,000 will be used to purchase a brand new loader-mounted snowblower.

The technology is more flexible and better than the older model now in use.

The runway snowblower in Coral Harbour will cost $217,000.

That money will be used to rebuild an existing model.

"We have a number of these types of blowers in our airport system," explained Mackenzie.

"Every year, we send one down to Quebec to be rebuilt. They come back as good as new and we send them to one of our airports. It saves us quite a few dollars that way," he said.

The airports in Qikiqtarjuaq and Iqaluit also received a total of $517,850 to make safety improvements.

That brings the total amount of ACAP dollars spent in Nunavut since 1995 to $4.5 million.