Feds earmark $50M for Grays Bay preconstruction

Preconstruction work inched another step closer for the Grays Bay Road and Port project after the federal government announced up to $50 million in funding.

Federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson announced the funding at a media event at Iqaluit’s Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre on Wednesday, alongside David Omilgoitok, co-chair of the Inuit-owned project proponent West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.

“In Nunavut we don’t have farms and we don’t have forestry – we don’t have a lot of primary industries,” Omilgoitok said in an interview after the event. “This funding will provide jobs, income – bettering people’s lives.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney referred the proposed $1 billion project to the Major Projects Office in March.

The office is working with West Kitikmeot Resources Corp. to streamline regulatory processes and speed up construction of a 230-kilometre all-season road. It will run from the northern end of the Tibbitt-Contwoyto winter road to a deep-sea port at Grays Bay on Coronation Gulf.

The infrastructure will provide winter road access from southern Canada to the Kitikmeot and to the northwest passage, aiding national defence and search and rescue. It will also improve access to mineral deposits at Izok Lake, Hackett River and High Lake.

The project could result in 500 more jobs during the four years of construction, 100 jobs for regular operations and a 20-per cent bump in GDP for Nunavut, projected Brendan Bell, CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.

“We are going to do our best to maximize jobs,” he said.

The preconstruction work that will benefit from the latest funding includes a wharf, airstrip and fuel farm, he said.