Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Infrastructure is aware from my opening statement regarding the transmission line from the Taltson Hydro to my community of Fort Providence, I just wanted to raise a fact that I just looked at.
The cost of transmission power in Fort Smith is currently at 23 cents a kilowatt hour. When I was there in 2006, it was 17 cents a kilowatt hour, and they were able to put electrical baseboard heaters in units without having to deal with diesel appliances, the furnaces, and stuff. In my community of Fort Providence, we're on diesel. We are on a diesel plant, and before the territorial subsidy rate, which is about half, covers it, the rate in Fort Providence is 84 cents a kilowatt hour.
There is a significant difference there before the government rebates come on. We are paying pretty high, and the government is on the hook for paying all of that, too, because they are subsidizing the whole territory for power. Like I alluded to, there's no watchdog. There is nobody actually talking to our own power corporation, the NTPC, either, about what they're doing to help the territory save on power. That's my concern there.
Anyway, getting back to the transmission line to Fort Providence, can the Minister provide an update on the initiative to run the line into Kakisa and Fort Providence? Mahsi.
Can the Member please direct -- you mentioned Infrastructure, but it sounds like Public Utilities Board? Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You're correct. Some of this does lie in other Ministers' departments. However, I can provide the Member with an update on the Kakisa transmission line, Fort Providence to Kakisa. It is a key initiative of our 2030 Energy Strategy. It roughly represents about 15 percent of our total reduction target for electricity generation. The proposed $52-million project involves the construction of the 170-kilometre line from Taltson to Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Dory Point. The extent of the project is to use the surplus hydroelectric power from the Taltson system, the existing system, to virtually eliminate the use for diesel generation in the communities. There will be still emergency backup that would be diesel-generated.
The delivery of hydro power to the customers in these communities should eliminate about one million litres of diesel consumption each year and will help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This project is one of the best projects that we have under the 2030 Energy Strategy in terms of greenhouse gas reductions, and without it, the Northwest Territories cannot meet its commitments that we have made.
The Government of the Northwest Territories has already set aside its 25-percent share towards the funding of the project, and we will be seeking 75-percent funding through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program this year. There are over $250 million in federal funding allocated to energy projects in the Northwest Territories over the next 10 years under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of the Northwest Territories must apply separately for federal approval for each individual project. The proposed routing for the transmission line is to follow the highway from Hay River to Fort Providence, with an extension into Kakisa and the Dory Point area. The Government of the Northwest Territories will be initiating appropriate engagement and consultation activities on this project in early 2020. Once consultation has been initiated, the Government of the Northwest Territories will apply for federal funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, we will undertake the environmental baseline work, and we will undertake the detailed engineering design and costing.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, just a reminder, we are halfway through, so please keep your preamble and questions or answers a little shorter, to the point. Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the update on the initiatives. It's much appreciated. I am wondering if the Minister can provide the report or the update to the Hamlet of Fort Providence on the initiatives and their strategy to get it going, because nobody in our community actually knows what is happening. I can't find any reports anywhere, and I am just hoping that the Minister can provide some written record for our community, and also for myself.
Yes, I will commit to the Department of Infrastructure providing a report to the hamlet on where the project is sitting at, and I will apologize to the Member that the communication has not been maybe what the hamlet was expecting and for yourself, so we will correct that, and we will do better in the future.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
