Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, getting back to my original roots here, I'm going to ask the Minister of Infrastructure some questions about the Great Bear River bridge.
Could the Minister speak to whether or not the regulatory review and permitting process is on track to maintain the timelines previously stated on the project website. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given some of the challenges to get in the communities in during this pandemic, the regulatory permitting process timeline has been revised so that applications will be submitted in early 2022. Staff are working with the community of Tulita and the Department of Lands to obtain required land reserves. This will not, however, cause any impact to project delivery within the expected bridge completion date being 2026. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that we have a lot of conversation around small communities and retention of money there, can the Minister briefly describe the community engagement process that's been undertaken until now and tell us what she's been doing differently to ensure that the benefits of the project are retained within that small community and are not being lost to businesses from the south or in regional centres. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Great Bear River Project has potential to bring significant socio-economic benefits to the Sahtu. My department has been working very hard to optimize how we can retain benefits in the region and community, as well as how to involve as many local businesses and contractors as possible. Engagement meetings have been taking place since August 2018. The project team has also held public meetings in each of the five Sahtu communities. Also have met with Sahtu Secretariat, community councils, land corporation, resource councils, all throughout the Sahtu.
Topics addressed during meetings have included discussions on how business and people of the Sahtu can be prepared to provide services to the project. So the next round of meetings are being scheduled for December and January.
The NWT business incentive is in place to favour bids with local and northern content. We will work with Department of Finance with regards to procurement options and also utilize the Northwest Territories Business Incentive Policy which is in place to favour bids with local and northern content. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that, although I do want to caution the Minister that BIP is only for a small portion of that overall contract so it may not actually have much weight in this.
And further to that, could the Minister speak to what is the estimated value of the work from the project that could realistically be executed within the community by local contractors. So this includes opportunities such as camp provision, work for laborers, catering services, camp attendants. What do we realistically see that Northwest Territories businesses could actually execute. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't really give an exact figure at this time. However, it is expected with a project of this complexity that a higher portion of cost will be attributed to bridge construction itself. That's what we've been telling the communities in the Sahtu that, you know, it -- this is a complex bridge. As a matter of fact, it will be the second biggest bridge here in the Northwest Territories.
We could expect that local and regional and Northwest Territories contractors would be able to carry out quarry operations, roadway work, earth works, bush clearing, just to name a few, Mr. Speaker.
Additionally, businesses are available to supply camp services, heavy equipment operators, skilled and unskilled labourers, camp cooks, attendants, to name a few. There are many components to a project of this size and the work will take more than two years to complete, providing opportunities for local, regional, and territorial participation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that the Minister supplied even some further examples of areas in which the local community can benefit.
And so I guess my next question is what is the Minister going to do or what requirements will be filled into the project plan in order to ensure that those small and local businesses and contractors are competitive in bidding on work for this project. Does the Minister commit to changing how RFPs are written to ensure greater scoring for those who incorporate training, Indigenous and community engagement. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, there has been and continues to be significant engagement with the Sahtu and community folks that are interested in this project. In addition, the Northwest Territories BIP program, which provides support to local contractors bidding on projects, small and local businesses have an advantage when bidding on local work as they do not need to build in costs for things like accommodations or mobilization, because they're already there. This gives local businesses and contractors a competitive advantage over someone that perhaps is outside the Northwest Territories.
As the project is still in the early stage of design regulatory permitting, it's kind of early to discuss the method of procurement. But I can assure Members our department is making every effort to optimize local and regional opportunities for this important project within procurement framework of the GNWT while also respecting the procurement framework and trade rules that are associated with this primary project funder, the federal government.
I would also remind the Member that I am appearing in front of SCEDE tomorrow morning with some of my senior staff to discuss all the projects that are happening in the Sahtu and be able to answer a little more detailed questions to some of the project that's occurring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
