Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of NTPC outline the timeline and specific steps that they're taking to advance the restoration of phase 3 power in the hamlet of Enterprise, given its importance to the community recovery and long-term economic stability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Dehcho. Minister responsible for NTPC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did have an opportunity to make some inquiries on this question. It's come up a few times with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. We don't own the line that runs from Hay River to Enterprise. That is owned and operated by Naka Power. It's my understanding that prior to the wildfires that there was what's called phase one power line running as far as Enterprise and that that is what Naka decided to rebuild. And at this point, I am not -- I have no ability to require or force them to do otherwise or to upgrade their power system.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly will maintain the commitment I made during COW which is that we'll work with the Member to connect her into Naka. I certainly do meet with them regularly in my role. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that.
What technical or infrastructure barriers, if any, is preventing phase 3 power to Enterprise, and what resources or support does the corporation need to move this forward without further delay? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, I can't say why Naka may have chosen to maintain a phase 1 system as opposed to a phase 3 upgrade. In general, Mr. Speaker, seeking to increase energy infrastructure does obviously come with costs, and increasing the power line capacity would have, I expect, been at a higher cost level, and under typical utility systems, the costs are then borne by the customers or ratepayers. So it may well have been a balance of what funds were available, other than by influencing or impacting increased costs to ratepayers. So without an industrial consumer ready and able to bear some of those costs, that would then land on residents who certainly in the wildfire aftermath would have -- may have been very ill-placed to take those costs on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Final supplementary. Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, without having phase 3 power, you can't do anything. You can't set up a business or anything. So how is NTPC working with the Hamlet of Enterprise and the government departments and federal partners to ensure that restoring phase 3 power becomes an immediate priority, aligning with the community rebuilding and future investment? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, again, Mr. Speaker, they originally had only had phase 3. I think there had been -- or phase 1. I gather there had been some requests prior to the fires with some of the industrial developments in and around the region that there was a request to consider moving up to phase 3. That is not what Naka opted to install following the wildfires. So at present time, I haven't asked them to make that change. I could only do so by way of a request to Naka. It would be up to them. So, again, we do work with Naka on other things. We're working with them right now on integrated services planning and can certainly include some discussion of this with them in that respect. We are working together to do systems planning for the whole of the territory. So this is -- in that sense, may well be part of that discussion. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for NTPC. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
