Michael Miltenberger

The big project, the final determination has yet to be made how we will proceed with that, whether it will be total public tender, negotiated. We have to look at a lot of factors. This $65 million, given the specificity of the work and the tight time frames, there’s a negotiated contract being worked out to put this money to use. But I’ll ask Mr. Neudorf to add a little more detail, please.

This supplementary document and the one supplementary document No. 1, 2013-14, are both related to Inuvik. This particular line item is related to the Inuvik-Tuk highway, and as we approve this amount and the one in the subsequent supplementary appropriation, we will be affirming the proceeding of the Tuk-Inuvik Highway Project. Thank you.

You’ve had the clear assurances from the department, from the deputy and from the Minister that the funds will be put to good use. Everything is waiting to go. The minute that this is passed and assented to, it will be starting to be put to use. Thank you.

The two basic areas are going to be to prove up the gravel sources from probable to proven, and the other big piece is to conclude the geotechnical work that needs to be done so that we can move the design from the 85 percent complete to the 100 percent complete in time for construction this coming fall.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The $65 million that is currently before this Assembly – the $5 million that was just approved and the $60 million now before the House – will prove up the gravel, we’ll do the geotechnical work, conclude that, and finalize a design before we go to tender and actually get the work done this fall.

Madam Chair, it will be a line item. It will be amortized over the life of the project. That’s how it will be delineated in the budget documents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If we look collectively as Northerners at the Northwest Territories, if regions prosper then we all prosper. If things go well in the Beaufort-Delta then we all benefit, if we can put in hydro transmission links that promote development. As former Minister Duncan said when we were in Ottawa, there are about 25 projects on the go, about $21 billion worth of activity, but a lot of it’s predicated on access to reasonably priced power. If we put transmission lines in and we and promote that kind of sustainable economic development, then the money goes into our coffers in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. This project has a long history and some of the initial numbers were very basic estimates. Over time we’ve used two separate consultants as well as the expertise within the Department of Transportation to refine the estimate to the point where it is today. Part of the upfront sunk costs that we talked about, the millions that we put into it, was to do that so that we could make the most informed decision possible. So we’ve had two consulting firms and the Department of Transportation separately looking at this to help us refine the numbers.

I believe in the risk matrix there is political risk that has been identified. Putting this into plain language, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a political risk. The Members asked for a plain language summary. We’ve provided it to them, and we’ve indicated, as well the Minister committed that we would table this in the House tomorrow.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Mike Aumond, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation; Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary of the FMB. Thank you.