Iqaluit moves ahead on $2.1M waterline extension project
Waterline will extend down Sivumugiaq Street; expected to help with business development there
Iqaluit councillors agreed this week to extend the city’s waterlines out to the North 40 section of the city. (Photo by David Venn)
The City of Iqaluit will go to tender soon as part of its plan to extend municipal water lines further into the North 40 area, which should help future business development in that section of the city, says capital planning director Sumon Ghosh.
The pipes, which end around the Aqsarniit hotel, will be extended to the current public works garage near the jail on Sivumugiaq Street, Ghosh said in an interview.
Colliers, a consulting firm hired by the city, estimates pipeline construction will cost $2.1 million.
The city will pay for the work by dipping into the $214 million it received from the federal government last year to develop a secondary municipal water source in April 2022.
Ghosh said $18 million of that pot of money is set aside for the city’s water distribution system.
“Before we were thinking that this [project] might not qualify under that funding, so we [would have had] to find our own source of funding,” he said. “Now that they have given us a green light, we will go ahead.”
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, deputy Mayor Kyle Sheppard expressed concern about taking money from the federal pot.
“I am concerned if this type of thing continues, where we start nickel-and-diming, taking portions of our federal funding that’s allocated to our long-term water supply for other needs that are not directly related,” he said.
Sheppard asked city staff to try to avoid relying on the fund for expansion-related work of this sort in the future.
Ghosh says this project is going to help the city with its long-term planning.
At some point, the public works garage will be replaced by a new operations centre nearby, which will house the city’s engineering and public works departments.
Ghosh said extending the waterline to this building means the city will save money by not having to build firefighting water storage tanks, though he didn’t know the exact amount that would be saved.
“The city will pay for the work by dipping into the $214 million it received from the federal government last year to develop a secondary municipal water source in April 2022.”
Wow. Just Wow! The Federal Government needs to make sure the City Deals first and foremost with a new water plant. Second all of the 18 million for distribution side should be allocated to residential areas and to fix the crumbling infrastructure in older parts of town! Not to expand to businesses. This is disgusting.
Also what happens when the City is short funds when projects run over budget and they blew 2.1 million on this extension. The city needs to evaluate its priorities!
Hope the line above ground.
I wonder if putting these above ground and incorporating pedestrian walkways (similar to others in town – but maintained and lit) could provide a good alternative to walking down the side of federal road?
This concept here has been utilized in Alaska and a study done to do so in Inuvik. Keeps the utilidor at grade suspended inside a walk way.
http://piperbernbaum.com/arctic-spine
There used to be pipes along the ‘white row’ aka Creekside rowhouses towards Nakasuk School. Also along behind the houses around the Anglican Church and Soup kitchen area. As the permafrost melts more, the more headaches…
Will this line be above ground? Will this line be treated as a “local Improvement” meaning paid for in part by the properties that benefits? (See CTVA section 157)
I hope we have learn our lesson about burring utilidor. I also hope you are not asking me to subsidize the heavy industrial lots along Federal Road and the new very profitable-looking hotel.