Masi, Mr. Speaker. The Rae Access Road upgrade is now under way this last summer and this summer. The people of Behchoko are grateful for this long-awaited improvement on highway safety, but they are not happy with the token number of jobs and business opportunities that the project has created for the community. Mr. Speaker, the project is on Behchoko land and also uses public money, so I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Could the Minister tell this House what the general policy is respecting local economic spin-offs from highway projects such as the Behchoko access road contract? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don't have a policy per se on some of these tendered contracts. However, specifically for the Rae Access Road, RTL Construction started the work and were expected to finish this fall, of 2021. About 60 percent of that work is completed. The peak season, we had about 28 people who are employed. Of that, 16 were Tlicho citizens, which, again, is 57 percent local involvement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am more focused on the targeted agreement between RTL and also Tli Cho Construction, Tlicho Government, so can the Minister of Infrastructure tell this House what the actual local employment and business targets are for the Behchoko access road project?
Further to the infrastructure cooperation agreement between the GNWT and the Tlicho Government, an agreement has been reached where the Tlicho businesses will supply 25 percent of labour to complete the Rae Access Road construction project.
Since at least two summers, actually 2021, 2022, 2023, three summers, I am more interested in what the targets the Minister has alluded to and also the training apprentices components of local benefits agreement, so where is the training and apprenticeship component of the local benefits agreement within the contract itself?
I don't have that level of detail with me in terms of pulling the actual agreement here as quickly as I can find it, so I may have to get back to the Member. I will get back to the Member in terms of more specifics on the contract.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the 25 percent target, that would have to be closely monitored. We have experienced in the past, whether it be with Stanton or other mega projects in the past, where it really has not been fulfilled, so I will be keeping an eye on that. Mr. Speaker, my last question is: what I would like to know is if the Minister's department has done enough to verify compliance with the local hiring targets and what enforcement measures they have taken when the targets are not met. Mr. Speaker, we still have a three-year summer project, so this is very important. I would like to know so we can get some answers on that. Masi, Mr. Speaker.
I want to start off by saying it was a struggle to find some of the workers as the diamond mines may attract many of the available workforce and also some other projects, like the Tli Cho Construction. However, I do want to say that RTL, the construction company, was able to maintain over 25 percent of the local labour requirement as per the ICA. Construction will resume in May 2021 and is expected to be completed, the full project, this fall, 2021. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not a three-year project. It will be done this fall. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
