Construction delayed on $350M deepsea port in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut
One community leader questions whether long-awaited project will ever be built
Qikqitarjuaq has been advocating for a deepwater port since before Nunavut was a territory and now the first phase of the project has been delayed before it’s even started.
The company responsible for construction on the port says it’ll be another year until they can put shovels in the ground, despite its plan to start this summer.
“It was disappointing,” the hamlet’s senior administrative officer Mohammad Ahmadi, said.
The port, which would be located near the entrance to the Northwest Passage, would service ships carrying supplies, as well as tourism and fishing vessels.
Qikiqtaaluk Arctic Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), the business arm of Qikiqtani Inuit Association, is leading the construction.
It announced the delay in a Qikqitarjuaq community update in March. It said it’s working to secure more funding for the project, which is why the timelines have “shifted.”
In 2021, the federal government awarded the community $40 million for the project but in December, AEDC said the cost had ballooned from its initial $40 million price tag to $350 million and asked Ottawa for another $150 million.
In a text message, Jeff Maurice, vice-president of partnerships with AEDC, said construction would start in 2027. He did not specify when in 2027.
Despite the construction delay, the company says the port will still be able to “achieve first operations” in 2028 — maintaining their original timeline.
The company has long described the projects as “shovel-ready.” Maurice said that they are “optimistic” the government of Canada sees the port’s “shovel-readiness” as it makes decisions on funding streams for building in the Arctic.
But Ahmadi is not so sure. He said he worries the delay is a sign the project might not happen at all.
“How can I be confident about that since it’s more than 20 years that it hasn’t yet started,” he said.
The planned port will be south of the community and is set to include 75-metre wharf, 275-metre access road, a crane for offloading cargo, freezer container facilities, as well as security and operations offices, according to the company’s submissions to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.
The port is one of four Nunavut projects the territorial government have identified as “nation-building” along with Iqaluit hydroelectric project, Kivalliq hydro-fibre link and Grays Bay road and port.
Qikiqtani Inuit Association said the port will be a benefit to the local economy through fishing, tourism and sealift, and to national defense and coast guard ships.
Related stories from around the North :
Canada: Port of Churchill to ship grain for first time since 2020, other supplies headed to Nunavut, CBC News
Russia: Russia to increase LNG exports to China from Arctic and Sakhalin: energy minister, Reuters
