Nunavut government approves new QEC headquarters building
QEC’s new Baker Lake business office expected to be complete in 2021
This is Qulliq Energy Corp.’s customer care and IT office in Baker Lake, one of three spaces that make up the corporation’s headquarters in the Kivalliq community. The QEC now has the go-ahead to build a new head office to consolidate its office space. (PHOTO COURTESY OF QEC)
The Government of Nunavut has approved a request from the territory’s power utility to build a new head office in Baker Lake.
Earlier this year, Qulliq Energy Corp. applied for a permit to build a new office building in the Kivalliq community of 2,000, where the corporation’s business activities are based.
The QEC’s 45 employees in Baker Lake are currently working out of three different offices.
The new office is expected to be completed by 2021 at estimated cost of $13 million.
“A new head office will increase QEC’s operational efficiency as all Baker Lake administration staff could be accommodated in one building with adequate boardroom and training space,” said Jeannie Ehaloak, Nunavut’s minister responsible for the QEC, in an April 25 news release.
Under territorial law, the QEC must get ministerial approval before it moves ahead on any capital project that has a projected cost of over $5 million.
The new office’s $13-million budget is considered a common cost to be shared among Nunavut ratepayers.
The QEC estimates that cost will be covered by a rate increase of approximately 0.35 cents per kilowatt hour once the new office space is complete in 2021.
Nunavut-wide, the QEC counts 212 employees between Baker Lake, its corporate offices in Iqaluit and its regional offices in Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.
Career civil servants who are part time politicians never seem to understand how to stimulate a stagnant economy.