Roland agrees to get estimate on cancelling Deh Cho Bridge agreement

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland agreed Wednesday to get an estimate of what it would cost the territorial government to get out of a concession agreement for a proposed bridge to be built over the Mackenzie River.

The premier has been fielding questions every day this week from non-cabinet regular MLAs on the government's role in the bridge corporation's project, which would link the territory's North Slave region to southern road networks year-round.

Last week, Roland released two key pieces of information: a concession agreement it signed with the Deh Cho Bridge Corp., which is building the bridge, and a recent cost-benefit analysis that showed the $165-million project's costs would be more than its benefits.

Roland promised MLAs during question period Wednesday that he would produce information in "a few days" on if and how it can get out of the concession agreement.

At the same time, he warned critics of the project that they have little time to overturn it: another agreement between the bridge corporation and its lenders is expected to be finalized by Feb. 21.

"One thing we have to realize is … while the lawyers are doing their work, there's a timeframe that they have to meet as well, and that is coming up before the end of this month," Roland said.

"We can pull the work together as quick as we can, and try to get a quick view of it from [the Financial Management Board Secretariat]."

Meanwhile, the government is backstopping a $9-million loan guarantee for the bridge corporation to get engineering completed, the construction contract negotiated and financing in place. A spokesman for the bridge corporation said most of that money has already been spent.