Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My follow-up to my statement is to my questions to the Minister of strategic infrastructure there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first question, is the Prohibition Creek access road permit being applied for this summer's half-project, 7-kilometre procurement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we are proceeding to have a secured land-use permit and water license application for phase 2. I'd also note, Mr. Speaker, that we have a funding request in through the Arctic infrastructure fund that went to Canada already last month or earlier this month. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I would expect that the full project would move to procurement thereafter but those first two steps have already been taken. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that response.
My next question on the permit that exists here until this November, and that's the DHU-1 quarry permit at Great Bear, the Great Bear Rock area. Is that project -- is that permit going to be executed and tendered out for the permit allowance for drilling and blasting and stockpiling the material for the Bear River bridge this winter? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct that this is currently a permitted quarry. But beyond that, Mr. Speaker, what we have done is put in -- again, on invitation -- a request for funding for the Great Bear River bridge to come back as a full project. Once we have that funding, we'll be proceeding with the planning phases on that project. The design and planning now are a few years old. With that in hand, we'd be in a better position to go back, and it may be that we'd be renewing the permit and then proceeding to get it fully ready for production. But to do so in advance, Mr. Speaker, we'd be putting it out of sync in terms of wanting to make sure we have the planning and design done and updated on the Great Bear River bridge prior to proceeding with the rock quarry permit. So again, Mr. Speaker, it is permitted for now, I acknowledge that, but we would have to simply bring that back, and I would not anticipate any difficulty in that regard. We are doing a lot of work right now to make sure that Mackenzie Valley Highway actually has a speedy and thorough and smooth procurement -- or sorry, permitting process for its entirety, including this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for that information and response from the Minister here. That leads me to the structural Great Bear River bridge that once was designed and procured in 2006. So if the design was completed at that time, it's similar in location, the colour is the same. So given those specs here that do exist, when is this government going to apply for the land-use permit and the water permits necessary for that structural bridge? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the land-use permit and water license applications drafted and ready to roll for the Great Bear River bridge. As I mentioned, we've put the application in on invitation to the Arctic infrastructure fund which would be a significant, significant boost of funding to be able to get some of that work going to bring it back up to speed. It's several years old now. It does need to come back up and make sure we have a cost estimate that is well advanced, not Class D or Class 4, but bring it up so that it's well advanced and we know exactly the cost so we can then move forward with a plan to move out and to get to construction. But we do need to be at that point where we have that initial funding to get to the construction estimate and then at that point move forward. But that is exactly the work that's happening now. And as the Member said, Mr. Speaker, we have the design -- we have a base design, we have a land-use permit, we have a water license. They're historic, they need to be reviewed, they need to be updated, but that's much faster than starting from scratch. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy and Supply Chains. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
