2 weeks Ago By Arty Sarkisian
After a one-year delay, five of Nunavut’s six airport terminal buildings currently under construction will be completed and ready for travellers in December. David Akeeagok, the minister of economic development and transportation, made the announcement Tuesday in the legislative assembly. “I look forward to seeing all these terminal buildings complete and in operation and hope to have an opportunity to celebrate their openings with my colleagues and community residents,” he said.
The new terminals are being constructed in Chesterfield Inlet, Whale Cove, Naujaat, Kugluktuk, Kimmirut and Rankin Inlet. The work is being funded by the Government of Nunavut and the federal National Trade Corridors Fund, which supports infrastructure projects across Canada. The Rankin Inlet project is the biggest and most expensive, at a cost of nearly $85 million.
It received $63.5 million from the corridors fund and the GN will cover the rest at roughly $21.5 million.
That’s the only project anticipated to be completed later, in the first quarter of 2025, Akeeagok said in an interview. The total combined cost for the other five smaller projects is $75.5 million, split nearly evenly between the GN and the corridors fund.
In 2020, the Government of Nunavut’s goal was to finish the terminals by 2023. But the projects were retendered because initial bids came in over budget, which caused a delay. All the new terminals will significantly improve the airports in the communities, Akeeagok said at the legislature.
The buildings they will replace were constructed more than 40 years ago. The interiors of the existing buildings and their mechanical and electrical systems are all at or near the end of their life cycle, and none are equipped with emergency or standby electrical systems, said John Hawkins, assistant deputy minister of transportation, in an email. At the same time, the populations in the communities have doubled in the past 40 years and continue to grow.
In most communities, the new terminals are approximately three times the size of the existing ones. The new buildings will be more accessible for people with disabilities and be equipped with standby electrical generators to provide electricity during a power failure, Hawkins said..
