Parts of the cable in the N.W.T.’s Mackenzie Valley cable fibre project — due to be completed in September 2016 — remain improperly installed and exposed to the elements. The latest setbacks for the $82-million project raise doubts about when the 1,154-kilometre line will be ready to offer a high-speed internet to the Mackenzie Valley, from Fort Simpson to Inuvik.
Installer, Ledcor Technical Services, initially subcontracted Rohl Enterprises, who installed the first two thirds of the cable. Rohl and Ledcor are suing each other over the project. Now drilling specialists Candrill Enterprises, hired late in 2015 by Ledcor, has also left under acrimonious circumstances.
Ledcor won the cable fibre line contract through a joint venture with Northwestel called the Northern Lights Fibre Consortium, which will operate the line. The consortium will eventually be paid through a series of annual payments totaling $234 million over 20 years once construction concludes, provided the line is working to the satisfaction of the government. Completion is now estimated June 2017, a year behind schedule.
For project updates, visit Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line Project
