Public works warns of road-paving delays

ODILE NELSON

Regional councillors grilled Nunavik’s director of municipal public works last week after he announced that, to achieve long-term benefits, there will be a one-year delay in the region’s paving projects.

Frédéric Gagné told regional councillors in Kuujjuaq that a pilot study completed in 2002 showed there would be greater long-term benefits to paving Nunavik with asphalt rather than a cheaper alternative.

But he said choosing asphalt would mean temporary set-backs, including postponing work in some villages, to allow his department to purchase a second, more efficient, asphalt paver.

The original seven-year paving plan called for workers to pave two communities each year until 2008. Kangirsuk and Salluit were scheduled for this summer, and Puvirnituq and Aupaluk for 2004.

If councillors accept Gagné’s recommendation, only Salluit will be paved this summer while the department orders new equipment. Paving in Kangirsuk will be rescheduled for 2004, and Aupaluk will be paved with Inukjuak and Tasiujaq in 2005.

“If I don’t pave Kangirsuk this summer, I can find the best machine for future projects that is lighter and easier to put on the sealift and cheaper,” Gagné said. “This could reduce the costs of future projects by a few hundred thousand dollars.”

Last spring, Quebec gave the Kativik Regional Government $35 million to pave the region’s roads. Nunavik’s roads need paving to help with dust problems and vehicle maintenance. But the provincial funds were only enough to cover 90 kilometres of Nunavik’s 150 kilometres of road with asphalt.

The KRG conducted a two-village study last summer to see if a cheaper, but less durable, technique called road surface treatment could stretch out the insufficient money.

The government paved 2.8 kilometres of Ivujivik’s roads with asphalt at a cost of $502,536 per kilometre. It then paved 3.6 kilometres in Kuujjuaq with the surface treatment at a cost of $281,268 per kilometre.

Gagné said despite the obvious savings of the surface treatment method, the study showed asphalt remained the better choice because it is more durable. He recommended councillors accept the necessary delays and choose asphalt to save money in the long term.

But Joseph Annahatak, a regional councillor and mayor of Kangirsuk, said he was disappointed.

“For myself, the people in Kangirsuk are expecting the project to go ahead as planned. It’s unfortunate. I don’t like to be a liar to my people,” Annahatak said.

If the KRG does not purchase the additional asphalt equipment, some communities could lose out completely in the long run, Gagné said. Without a second set of lighter equipment that is smaller and cheaper to ship between villages, paving funds could vanish before work even begins on late-scheduled communities.

“The original amount for the total project was $35.5 million…. We are now saying the project could cost between $40 and 45 million,” Gagné said. “We’ll follow situation but at one point we may end with deficit…. We need to look at saving money in the long-term.”

Annahatak seemed to reluctantly accept Gagné’s proposal. But others continued to press for additional kilometres in their communities.

Charlie Tukkiapik, regional councillor for Quaqtaq, said he was not satisfied the KRG was proposing to pave only 3.6 kilometres of Quaqtaq’s roads in 2007, while it had promised to pave more in other villages.

Under the paving plan, municipal public works will pave 13.5 kilometres of road in Salluit, 12.2 kilometres in Inukjuak, and 8.3 in Kangiqsujuaq. Several smaller communities will have less than four kilometres of road paved, including Quaqtaq, Aupaluk, and Ivujivik.

No one was taking into account future road growth, Tukkiapik said.

“I’m just saying this is not enough. I know five years from now Salluit will grow but this message has been made for today. The existing roads in Quaqtaq have already been extended [since the agreement was reached last year].”

But Gagné said the department was doing everything it could to provide a lasting and economical solution for the region.

“We are considering the [new] bids that are in now but I don’t want to promise I can even make this 90 kilometres. But for sure, it’s my goal to pave everything when money is there,” Gagné said.

Councillors have until March 14 to decide whether to purchase the additional equipment.