Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 27/02) - The territorial government wants to build more bridges up the Mackenzie Valley, a move the transportation minister says will pave the way to an all-weather road to Fort Good Hope and, eventually, Tsiigehtchic.

"We'll have 24 new bridges along the Mackenzie Valley, which bridges every stream up to Fort Good Hope," Joe Handley said.

"That becomes the beginning of an all-weather road up the Mackenzie Valley."

The bridges are part of a four-year $243-million proposal the GNWT has developed in an attempt to tap into a $2-billion federal infrastructure fund.

The proposal calls for $67 million in funding from territorial coffers, $43 million to be collected from tolls on a bridge proposed for the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence and $133 million from the federal fund.

If the federal funding comes through, the transportation minister said there will likely be enough money to start working on a link from Fort Good Hope to Tsiigehtchic.

Handley and Great Slave MLA Bill Braden were in Ottawa last week promoting the proposal to federal politicians.

"We think the $133 million we're proposing -- their share of this investment -- is going to have a dramatic payback for all of Canada for decades to come," Braden said.

Studies indicate that the NWT has resource potential that can add $65 billion to the national gross domestic product and benefit the South as much as the North, he added.

The $20 million in bridges account for a small portion of the proposed work.

The lion's share will go into Highway 3 and the Ingraham Trail.

Handley said until a more desirable alternative is presented, the Ingraham Trail will remain the route to the diamond mines.

The plan proposes $25 million to complete reconstruction of Hwy 3 between Rae and the capital, and $36 million to pave the Ingraham Trail.

"The objective here is to get to the diamond mining area," Handley said Thursday. "(The Ingraham Trail) is the current route, so until somebody gives us a better route, the plan is to continue that way."

To that end, the government plans to chip-seal the trail to Tibbitt Lake and straighten out some of the sharper turns.

Earlier this month North Slave MLA Leon Lafferty was sharply critical of Handley's proposed spending on the Ingraham Trail.

Lafferty, who has proposed a route to the Lac de Gras mines from Rae that would link the Dogrib communities north of it, said he is considering calling for Handley's resignation.