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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It has been a long time coming, but road crews have begun work to pave the loop road through Ndilo.

Det'on Cho Corporation general manager Blaine Nickel said everything is on pace to be finished by the first week of September. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"I'm looking forward to getting this completed after 49 years talking about it." Ndilo Chief Ted Tsetta said Monday.

Crews started working on the site Aug. 8, improving drainage and grading along Sikyea Tili and Morrison Drive in preparation for paving. Det'on Cho Corporation general manager Blaine Nickel said everything is on pace to be finished by the first week of September.

"Progress is going well," Nickel said, also on Monday "We're finishing the storm sewer, and we're starting on the base work."

Paving will start "the first week of September," he added.

The band and the City of Yellowknife signed an agreement last summer to share costs on the $1.4-million project. A July 15 start date passed while Tsetta successfully lobbied the city to ensure band members were involved in the project. Nickel said band members make up about 60 per cent of the crew.

Residents have been waiting for the roads to be paved for decades, but one element of the work caused a brief stir this weekend. Surprised to be awakened by work crews Sunday morning, Dianne Betsina emerged from her home to find crews removing 10-year-old willow trees from outside the public housing property where she lives.

To their credit, she said, they stopped the work when she expressed her concern, and Tsetta told her they will be planting birch and willow trees after the work is done.

For Tsetta, the work is critical to improve community safety.

"Especially for kids," he said. "They've been dumping calcium on the road for years. It's not healthy. We will have (the paving) done before the end of the summer, and hopefully you will see a better community."

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