Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister what is the total cost of the Snare Hydro Expansion to the community of Whati and how much of that funding has been secured? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's I'll have to get the number to the Member, standing on the floor of the House I'm just looking at my notes and don't have it in front of me. So I will correspond back to the Member on where the budget is at. I can also say that there certainly has been some advancement. There are some funds already secured and discussions are underway with the Tlicho government on this project. Thank you.
Okay, well further to that question, what has been spent to date on this project and what is the remaining to be spent? Thank you.
Colleagues, please one question and that has two. So Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could tell you that I've got some notes. They're in a paragraph, and that's not going to be a good way for me to answer a question on the floor of the House trying to get numbers like this. But certainly I can give a general and I certainly don't want to miss out on the amount of money that's been secured. That's my bigger concern here. There's been money that's going back to 2022 that has already been that's already been secured. We are working with the Tlicho/Kiewit partnership. They are doing planning studies. And so at this point, the project is proceeding forward. There does appear to be, from my brief review here, adequate funds to proceed through the planning stages and the design stages, community engagement stages. And obviously, the next point will then to be to get to a fully cost estimated project so that the more detailed work can be done to connect the community. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, the Minister can tell me this, how much funding is the GNWT contributing and how much funding is required from partners?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, again, Mr. Speaker, I definitely will commit to providing here in the next couple of days detail to the Member from Monfwi about what has happened over the last several years and where the project's at in terms of its progress. Some of the funding certainly has come from CIRNAC. The GNWT is also, then, applying for additional funds from CIRNAC. I can't say off the top of my head whether the Tlicho government's contributed anything directly and I certainly expect and I know that they are involved as a partner as this is a project on their lands. And, again, I don't know what position I may be in to speak to that but I will commit to getting a letter to the Member so that she has that detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Has the GNWT explored partnership that could implement the Snare Hydro Expansion within the life of this Assembly? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's quite a bit of work underway already with respect, as I've said, to different phases of the project to the extent that they're known. So, again, planning study that was completed with the TlichoKiewit partnership, that was completed already in 2023. So, again, that does suggest that there is a good working relationship in existence. There does need to be some further conversation with that partnership in order to determine what the next steps would be based on their planning study. But phase 1 is where we would get to a point of having a more shovel ready project. The phase 1 of the project is next. That's where you get into your community engagement, your design, environmental studies. It's my understanding that that's where we're at, that discussions are underway with the Tlicho government. I don't know what the most recent conversations have been, but I will certainly find out. Thank you.
Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
