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RANKIN INLET - A number of roads in the community of Rankin Inlet are about to receive a major facelift.

The hamlet has announced it will be spending $220,000 to resurface 7.5 kilometres of roads within the community.

Rankin Inlet SAO Paul Waye reacts with disbelief when getting the news from the Government of Nunavut that it won't be contributing financially to the community's resurfacing project this past week. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Senior administrative officer Paul Waye said the hamlet will also spend an additional $100,000 on project preparation.

"The preparation costs are figured into the hamlet's budget, so that won't be considered a direct cost," said Waye.

"The $220,000 was originally planned to come from the hamlet's surplus, but Community and Government Services gave us permission to take it from the land-development fund."

The hamlet's request for funding help from the Government of Nunavut (GN) for the project was denied.

The hamlet has tied into the resurfacing of the runway at the Rankin airport to improve a number of roads in the community.

The airport project will see a layer of pavement taken, or milled off, the runway.

The removed material is called millings, which can be rehabilitated, spread and compacted to create a paved surface for roads.

There will be 45,000 square metres of millings left from the airport project, which, with a 16-metre-wide street, will do 7.5 kilometres of road.

Waye said after all the main arteries, or outer-ring roads, in town have millings put down, there will be enough remaining for an additional three kilometres.

He said hamlet council is still deciding where to use the remaining millings, but they will likely go to high-traffic areas.

"The finished product isn't as hard as asphalt because it goes down cold, not hot," Waye said.

"If people walk Cats down the road, it will tear the heck out of the pavement.

"So, we have to ensure people who own tracked vehicles are aware of this or they will destroy the newly-surfaced roads."

The resurfacing initiative was included in the tender for the airport rehabilitation project awarded to Kudlik Construction.

The company will assist by providing an operator for the hamlet grader and training hamlet staff to put the millings down properly.

The project is scheduled to begin on Aug. 4 and will take about 10 days to complete.

Rankin Mayor Lorne Kusugak said he's glad the hamlet is at the point where it has the money for this type of project, but he's disappointed the GN turned down the request for funding help.

He said, officially, the GN was only asked to pay for a portion of the project.

"Even if we went into it 50-50, that would have been $100,000 more we could have used to improve other areas of our community," said Kusugak.

"We were led to believe, rightly or wrongly, during our initial discussions on the project that there could be money to help us with this.

"The GN then said no money for Rankin, but, in the next breath, announced $12 million going into Iqaluit.

"I'm glad for the people of Iqaluit, but I'm disappointed the GN didn't see fit to give us any money for our project."

Kusugak said the Iqaluit announcement was politically motivated by the upcoming territorial election.

He said while Rankin is getting a correctional facility and a trade school, that shouldn't mean it can't access infrastructure money.

"If you take a look at the infrastructure dollars dispersed in Nunavut, from any funding source, the lion's share has gone to Iqaluit," said Kusugak.

"I don't want to take anything away from Iqaluit, but there has to be a wake-up call to the other MLAs.

"They have to decide when it's enough, as far as the amount of money going to our capital.

"Too much money going to one community was a problem we had when Yellowknife was our capital."

Kusugak said it's frustrating for a municipality like Rankin - which is doing well on its bottom line - to be turned down for help on an infrastructure project it's put so much of its own money into.

"When we're putting so much of our money into improving our community, you'd think the GN would kick in and give us a hand," the mayor said.

"You can only use the argument of the correctional facility and trade school for so long because we're talking about entirely different pools of money.

"We're purchasing new municipal vehicles, playground equipment, gravel-screening equipment and culverts for our roads ... and we put in a debenture to build up Area 6 and extend the utilidor that the GN isn't contributing a penny towards for the next few years.

"We're doing our share and it's time the GN did more to help us out."