Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services
Monday, May 21, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - An all-weather highway in the Mackenzie Valley is not among the projects Imperial Oil and its partners have in mind for the Mackenzie Gas Project.

Documents that Imperial recently filed with the National Energy Board to explain its $16.2 billion cost estimate for the project, show that the companies would spend $2 billion on infrastructure during construction of the 1,200-km natural gas pipeline.

The money would finance barge landings, airstrips, access roads and worker housing, but there is nothing to close the 900-km gap between Wrigley and Tsiigehtchic.

Premier Joe Handley has lobbied for inclusion of the Mackenzie Highway as part of the gas project's infrastructure legacy to the Northwest Territories, and hasn't given up on the proposal.

"A lot of ideas are being floated by Imperial," said Handley, who referred to statements by at least one Imperial executive in support of completing the highway.

"Randy Broiles (a senior vice-president) said that the highway would be beneficial to the project," Handley said.