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DEH CHO
Residents of Wrigley and Fort Simpson had their chance last week to ask questions and make suggestions about an infrastructure project that the territorial government is proposing.

Stuart Salter, left, of Salter Global Consulting Inc., shows Fort Simpson Mayor Sean Whelly a model of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Community presentations and consultation on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link Project took place in Wrigley on Feb. 20 and Fort Simpson the following day.

The project, which has an estimated cost of between $60 and $70 million, would see a fibre optic cable laid 1,115 kilometres between Checkpoint and Inuvik and an additional 140 km on to Tuktoyaktuk.

The cable would have at least 24 fibres. One fibre pair has enough capacity to transmit all of the data, telephone, cellular and Internet traffic currently produced in the NWT, said Stuart Salter of Salter Global Consulting Inc, the company that did the feasibility study on the project.

The fibre line would provide a high-speed alternative to the current communications infrastructure up the valley, Salter said. Salter compared the cable to having a multi-lane divided highway for data up the valley where there is currently only a gravel road.

"It transports data in a very reliable way, very fast," he said.

The territorial government is viewing the line as a, "transformational project," said Sandy Kalgutkar, the deputy secretary of the financial management board with the Department of Finance.

The faster transmission of large amounts of data will allow for improved public services including tele-health and distance education as well as business opportunities, he said.

"It will give them the technology that the rest of Canada has," Kalgutkar said, referring to residents in communities along the route.

In Wrigley, Chief Tim Lennie of Pehdzeh Ki First Nation said the presentations helped residents better understand the project.

"We did have a lot of questions," he said.

One of the questions was whether the territorial government will be providing subsidies to allow smaller communities to build the networks that will access the line.

All of the communities along the line will be provided with a connection point.

The government is proposing that the local networks and services in each community be created and run by new or existing businesses.

A subsidy would allow smaller communities to create associated telecommunications businesses, said Lennie. It would also be a form of payment for the use of the land the cable will cross, he said.

Lennie said the band and community residents will have to examine the project more closely before deciding to support it.

In Fort Simpson. Ivan Simons questioned the plan to connect the end of the line at Checkpoint into the existing fibre optic line run by Northwestel. Making that connection would put the government at the mercy of Northwestel, he said.

If the government instead connected the line into the network at High Level, Alta., it would have control over the project, said Simons, who owns the communications company HR Thomson Consultants Ltd.

Then residents could expect to see other companies such as Telus and Rogers begin to offer competitive rates for communication in the North, he said.

The line would bring some real benefits, said Mayor Sean Whelly of Fort Simpson. The ability to stream videos for education and medical purposes would definitely be appreciated, he said.

Whelly said he also hopes the increased amount of bandwidth would result in larger amounts of data for communication company customers at lower costs.

"We're always behind it seems and for once we might jump ahead," Whelly said in reference to technology.

Consultations are being conducted in all of the communities along the line's proposed route. Following that, a project description report will be filed with the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board so the necessary permits and licences can be obtained, said Kalgutkar.

The government will then look at how to fund the project and for someone to construct it. The GNWT is proposing to follow a P3 private, public, partnership model or a joint venture to complete the line, he said.

The government has already set aside $7 million in the 2013-14 budget for the project. The remainder of the cost will be sought from the private sector and possibly aboriginal governments.

The project will involve risks, but because of the public benefits that will result from it the government thought it was something important to undertake, Kalgutkar said.

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