Ottawa to fund runway upgrade at Kuujjuaq airport

ODILE NELSON

The federal government announced a $2.5-million facelift for the Kuujjuaq airport’s runway last week but the improvements are not the total makeover the village is still fighting for.

The funding is meant to improve the safety of Nunavik’s primary airport, said Guy St-Julien, MP for Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik, on July 3. The airport is the only one in Nunavik owned by the federal government.

“This major investment in Kuujjuaq Airport is part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to support infrastructure in remote communities that is essential to the safe and efficient transportation of people and goods,” St-Julien said.

The funding is earmarked for a specific project – leveling off the runway so that it does not drop abruptly.

But for the past 10 years, Kuujjuaq has been asking Transport Canada to fund more comprehensive work. Specifically, the community wants a major expansion to the airport terminal building and surrounding grounds, including a small parking lot.

The Kativik Regional Government and the federal government have been discussing these areas for several years. Last December, both sides said they expected to sign a deal sometime in the spring.

However, Donald Beaulieu, a communications agent with Transport Canada in Montreal, confirmed this project is not part of those negotiations.

“It’s a different project than the planning process and discussions about the terminal. This is a project to regularize the main runway, that is level off the terrain on both sides of the approach, and that’s work that was planned after the first runway improvement project [was] carried out not long ago,” he said.

Beaulieu added negotiations for the other projects have not been finalized. He had no information on when the negotiations would be completed.

The runway project, Beaulieu said, must be done to comply with standards. But though the work will bring the airport up to snuff, this does not mean it is currently unsafe.

“It does meet safety standards. It’s just that on a number of our runways, we want to regularize things. We want to make sure the sides and approaches of [the] runway itself attain the safety margin we wish to attain,” Beaulieu said.

The idea, he said, is to ensure the runway is not only safe but above the lowest acceptable safety level.

Yassin El Khachab, a manager for Public Works Canada who is responsible for Transportation Canada projects, said it’s understandable if people consider leveling off the runway less important than expanding the terminal. But he said the work is necessary.

“All that we spend on the air site – which is runways, taxi ways and so on – it might look very minor. What interests them is the terminal building or the facilities around the terminal. This is what the public sees. But the inside, the runway are really for airplane operations and safety concerns. We spend lots of money to do such things as cut trees every year but it has to be done,” Kachab said.

“I don’t think it’s justified in terms of needs but it is justified in terms of civil aviation criteria,” he said. “We try as much as possible in each airport, whenever possible, to meet the requirements.”

The work on the runway is set to begin in the coming weeks.

Officials have divided the work over the next two summers so there will be minimal disruption to the airport’s daily scheduled flights. The leveling should be completed by the fall of 2004.

The project contract was awarded to Mont-Sterling Pats Parts.

Both Beaulieu and El Khachab expect the improvements will provide some job opportunities in the community.

Funding for the project is covered by Transport Canada’s operating budget for 2003.

Kuujjuaq has been pushing for changes to the airport terminal because it becomes overcrowded at peak times, sometimes causing unneeded friction between passengers and making it difficult to access the luggage conveyor belt.

A recent proposal envisioned the new terminal would be two and a half times the size of the current building with room for a small restaurant, extra seating and counter space for more airline booths.

The project would also add 45 new parking spaces, extend the access road to the airport by 100 metres and expand the apron by 16,000 square metres.