Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Transportation. I understand that the construction of the Four Mile Creek Bridge was halted due to some environmental issues with the regulators, and I want to know what is the status now of the Four Mile Creek Bridge close to Tulita.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Transportation staff had met with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada in Norman Wells on February 18th. We presented a water management plan that was deemed acceptable by the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and with that the work order on the Four Mile Creek Bridge was lifted.
With this recent work stoppage with the Four Mile Creek Bridge, will the department or will this Minister see if it’s salvageable by this winter? I know there’s not much time left, but this is an outsider contractor coming in to work in our area. I’m not too sure what happened, but somebody goofed on this one here, so certainly it causes some concern for us in the region here.
Is this work salvageable? Can we do as much as we can before the winter road is closed?
The department, using two contractors from Tulita, started to do some dewatering on the bridge on the 22nd, this past Saturday, so the work is proceeding and the intention is to complete the work that was scheduled to complete, so we’re back to work there.
I appreciate the quickness of the Minister. I want to ask the Minister, is this bridge on schedule, on time, within budget to be completed within the scope of the project that was presented to us for allocating funding to it?
I don’t have the original schedule with me, but as I indicated, the department is working with two local companies that have the machinery under our direction. We are providing support for planning and design and any geotechnical engineering is being provided by another engineering company called TerraTek. With that, we’re hoping that the work will be on schedule, but I don’t have the exact dates with me. I don’t know if there’s been a slight adjustment or not here in the House.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I ask the Minister of Transportation, once he gets his full briefing from the department on this Four Mile Creek Bridge, if he would provide it to me and the Members of the House to know that this work will get done, will get on the books of completion, because from what I’m understanding, the work in the Sahtu will continue to increase and the bridge is important for the community and also important for the oil and gas activity that’s happening in the Tulita district.
I would be pleased to provide that information on the dates. I know that once the bridge is complete there, that would become the permanent structure that will be used for that crossing on the winter road going into the future.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Hawkins.
