New airport terminals in 5 communities set to start operation in spring
Old terminals will be demolished after operations kick off in new ones
A new airport terminal in Kimmirut is under construction and set to be substantially completed on Jan. 31. (Photo courtesy of Neil Macdonald/Community and Government Services)
Updated Jan. 16 at 3:55 p.m. ET
Five of Nunavut’s six airport terminal buildings currently under construction are set to be ready for travellers this spring after several delays.
The new terminals are being built in Chesterfield Inlet, Whale Cove, Naujaat, Kugluktuk and Kimmirut, with the work funded by the federal and Nunavut governments.
The total combined cost for the five terminals is $75.5 million, split nearly evenly between the GN and Ottawa.
In 2020, the territorial government’s goal was to finish the terminals by 2023. However, the projects were re-tendered because initial bids came in over budget, which caused a delay.
David Akeeagok, the minister of economic development and transportation, announced in October the five smaller terminals would be operational by the end of 2024.
But the opening was delayed again. “These projects experienced some supply issues with some key building components,” said Kathryn Devereaux, communications manager for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation, in an email.
Now, construction of the Chesterfield Inlet terminal is set to be substantially completed in the last week of January, Kimmirut on Jan. 31, Naujaat and Whale Cove in March, and Kugluktuk in April.
It will take about four weeks after these substantial completion dates for the department to launch passenger operations in the terminals, Devereaux said.
The buildings they will replace are three times smaller and were constructed more than 40 years ago. They will be demolished after the new terminals are complete.
Rankin Inlet terminal is also set to start welcoming passengers in 2025, but that project is more expensive and will be divided into two phases.
Phase one is projected to be completed by the beginning of June with “full passenger operations” kicking off in July.
After that, the old terminal will be demolished and the phase two building will be constructed on top of the old site.
The two new buildings will be joined into one 2,650-square-metre terminal that is expected to be able to accommodate up to 508 passengers and visitors.
At a cost of nearly $85 million, the entire Rankin Inlet project is to be completed in fall 2026, Devereaux said. It received $63.5 million from the federal government and the GN covers the rest at roughly $21.5 million.
Note: This story was updated to include an explanation for the most recent delay in the terminals’ construction.
must be election coming up in nunavut
You think any of the elected officials in Nunavut do anything?
And when an elected official might actually do something the GN works so slow that no mater what the person that made it happen is probably not part of that job by the time it is completed.
Yep, with all the transient workers at the GN, there is so much turnover, why it’s so slow and so expensive for the GN to do anything. The GN needs to do more to build local capacity with GN.
Demolish existing old buildings when new building comes, given that GN has an anti-poverty, housing crisis, homelessness etc…sell it to the hamlets for $ 1.00 and hamlets can look after their homeless people by providing an existing shelter to help those in dire need.
The old terminal buiding in Kimmirut, NU contains ASBESTOS. It should not just be demolished onsite. I have worked here for the past 16 years and looked into the history of the building. The ASBESTOS is in the insulation in the walls. If demolished onsite, there is potential risk in exposing the community residents to the risk of ingesting this CANCEROUS RISK during demolition.
Do you propose picking it up in one piece wrapping it up and shipping it away
There are approved methods of containment during demolition and disposal that pose no dangers to the community.
That is how the mandate is to remediate Asbestos. Federal law.
Where’s Arviat that has an small airport too, the snow caved in when there’s blizzard. Arviat neeed new airport too that was also built more than 30 years ago.