Site C Keeps Moving Along
Prince George, B.C.- BC Hydro has made two announcements that will see the Site C dam project near fort St. John moving forward.
A contract for clearing the south bank of the Site C dam construction area has been awarded to Paul Paquette and Son’s Contracting Ltd based in Chetwynd.
The clearing work on the south bank will prepare the dam site for construction and will provide about 40 jobs.
The job calls for the removal of trees and vegetation from 620 hectares, construction of up to 30 kilometres of temporary access roads, upgrading the existing access road, collection and disposal of waste wood, and site preparation for bridge construction.
Just over a week ago, BC Hydro announced Two Rivers Lodging Group was selected as the preferred proponent for the Site C Worker Accommodation contract. That worker accommodation site will house 1600 workers, include housing, a movie theatre, gym, running track, a lounge and massage therapy, all elements Project spokesperson Dave Conway says are necessary to attract a workforce.
The camp will be located about 6 kilometers southwest of Ft. St. John in the Peace River Regional District. “The implications for the community are that you will have a workforce that will be scaled up over time, At peak, there will be 1600 workers, although the camp itself potentially, is being designed to accommodate 2200 workers. ” He says because this camp community is very close to Ft. St. John, steps have been taken to minimize a number of concerns expressed by the City of Ft. St. John ” traffic, housing, impacts on recreation facilities, potentially police enforcement and healthcare. What we’ve tried to do is build a facility that is attractive to people.” He says while the camp is designed to handle the majority of the work force, BC Hydro is still looking at building 50 in town housing units, “10 of which would be available immediately for low income housing and the remaining 40 would be turned over to the City for low income housing at the completion of the (dam) project.”
Conway says BC Hydro has an agreement in principle with the City of Ft. St. John to assist with costs incurred due to impacts on Ft. St. John’s recreation sites, and has been in discussion on the healthcare and policing concerns. “We would be looking at additional RCMP enforcement and picking up the cost for that, we would also be looking at an onsite medical clinic for the workers to be able to relieve the pressure on the local community’s medical services.”
Construction of the work camp site is on BC Hydro owned lands and while the camp site clearing is expected to start late this summer the actual camp construction will start early in the fall.
The camp will have limited alcohol available, in a controlled environment. Conway says the input they’ve had from other work camps is not to go completely dry, that a controlled level of alcohol in a controlled environment is the preferred way to go.
Construction of the Site C Clean Energy Project is scheduled to start in summer 2015 and be completed in 2024.
Comments
Wasn’t it foregone conclusion that 30 seconds after it was determined by our government that Site C was a good idea that it was going to be built and everything that has transpired since then has just been a smoke and mirrors dog and pony show….?
Unless Alberta withdraws the Northern Gateway project, as was stated pre election, we can be pretty sure that is a go to and everything we have seen is also smoke an mirrors
Will be 9 years of steady work for the region (with some positive affects to the PG economy).
That’s a fact DP, just have to make sure that the contractor are directed through the process to hire BC workers. As will the Bennett dam, hundreds of apprentices received their red seal through that project and the same could happen with site C, that’s were the real win comes from. So the challenge to Hydro and Government would be to make sure this happens.
Hydro and the BC Government are playing the **positive thinking game**
Ie; Act positive, and give the go ahead to some construction projects, to give the impression that this project has no downside. Problem is, it still has 8 court cases pending, and they still haven’t been able to show a need for Site C.
This is about creating some jobs, so the Liberals can give the impression they have actually done something since they were elected.
They have done nothing, and this will become more apparent in the next two years. The economy of BC is going to hell in a hand basket. Unemployment will rise, and house values will decline.
Site C is a good example of what a failed Government will do, to stay in power. **Smoke and mirrors** covers it quite well.
The smoke and mirrors is actually coming from Chief Roland Wilson.
The West Moberly, their Treaty 8 partners and the bands’ related companies have previous enjoyed direct awards for work in their areas.
BC Hydro has limited the direct awards and required competitive bidding for the works.
That has Roland Wilson touring BC to gain support by flogging dead fish.
Have a look at the First Nations Financial Disclosure Act specifically the West Moberly and their related companies.
Maybe the grant from BC Hydro needs to be a large as the grant from Peace River Coal (or the LNG pipeline companies)to make him stay home.
Peace Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada $ 130,153
BC Hydro 63,416 –
BC Oil and Gas Commission 141,628 –
BC Environment Assessment Office 40,000 –
BC Utilities Commission – 28,811
Coastal Gas Link Pipeline 253,899 –
First Nations Health Authority 734,737 –
Gething Cultural study 134,138 138,809
Other 327,922 –
Peace River Coal 234,388 134,439
Prince Rupert Gas 311,983 –
Province of BC 45,000 40,000
Tera Environmental Consultants 89,422 –
Treaty 8 Tribal Association 94,986 –
Water Canadian Coal – 80,000
Its time we started to give our natives benefits that they should of had 200 year’s ago. as we drag our feet theses benefits keep getting even more costly
Cheers
The benefits should not extend beyond taxpayer-sponsored training and job opportunities in the resource sector and elsewhere. It’s time for the economic apartheid to end and the best way to accomplish that is to put skilled people to work, aboriginal and non-aboriginal.
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