Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And further to my Member's statement, I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. On the Deh Cho Bridge, what caused the damage to the Deh Cho Bridge? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, back in August of 2023, it was noticed that there appeared to be a broken cable on this particular bridge. They had engineers on site within 48 hours, and they were able to identify fairly early on what they thought was happening was in fact a metallurgical problem, a problem with the materials themselves. So a number of -- they took the materials out. They pulled the cable off the bridge, took it for testing, wanted to of course to make sure that they knew for sure what had gone wrong, and it was confirmed that there was no defect in the design or the engineering or the construction; there was something wrong in the metal that was actually used to cast this particular piece. And so as a result of that, not only did they fix that one, Mr. Speaker, but they fixed all 24 bars just to be sure since they were all cast from the same bit of metal. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you for that. Yes, there was different -- people were saying maybe a truck hit it or something but I didn't realize this happened. So why is the repair to the bridge taking so long at this point? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to speak to this question. I think there has been a lot of concern and rumor and frustration on this but in fact, as I said, it's -- we're really only just barely over a year since the issue was identified, and what they've done is gone back to the original constructor of the bridge. Rather than try to find someone new to fit themselves in, they've gone back to them to recast these pieces again. They had to, in fact -- well, to recast the entire 24 bars. So that's now been done. It's been happening by this other company. At the same time, Infrastructure did go out, we simultaneously procured the part of getting it built back in. And so with that, they've actually -- by doing it that way, they're able to speed up the overall process of getting folks on site. There was a bit of a delay in terms of getting the material -- or the bridge components shipped here. I am told that they are due here -- they're en route, they're due here in early November. And the best I can say is in terms of a delay, I think early on, Mr. Speaker, people were saying an estimate of having it rebuilt this fall. Fall, of course, can be September. But, really, there's only been a slight delay in that delivery, and so I'm happy to say that they're en route, they're expected to be here in November. Thank you.
Thank you for that. Thank you. So the cable -- the cable will be repaired in November. When will the bridge be fully functional? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was just looking for an exact date in any of my materials, but I can say that if it's here at the beginning of November and, as I said, we're looking to mobilize the construction at the same time, folks should be able to be using it this calendar year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you. Well, okay, so might have to wait until next year though. Maybe, hopefully not. What is the total cost of the repairs to the Deh Cho Bridge; what is the total cost expected to be? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I expect that the total cost of this will come in in and around $7 million. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
