The GNWT won't be breaking ground this spring for a new fish plant in Hay River but that doesn't mean plans aren't in the works.
In October, it announced that, after discussion with the federal Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and fishers in Hay River, it had decided to proceed with building a new facility.
At that time, Infrastructure Minister Wally Schumann – also the minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment – noted there is $1.4 million in the budget for a new fish plant.
Now, Schumann says an announcement on a new fish plant could be expected sometime this year.
"Hopefully later this year we'll be able to make some type of announcement of where this location possibly will be in Hay River," he said at a Feb. 3 constituency meeting as the Hay River South MLA.
"We haven't totally got the location nailed down on where we want it, but preferably it's going to be in the centre of town with water and sewer, of course," he said, adding that the cost to build the plant is significantly higher than $1.4 million.
"I'm not being negative about it," he said. "Things are looking fairly good. We just need to nail down a few things here, and later in the year hopefully we'll be able to make some kind of announcement on this."
Schumann said one of the sites being considered is the large lot containing the existing fish plant, which is owned by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.
In the legislative assembly on Feb. 7, Schumann was also asked about plans to build a new fish plant and its estimated cost by Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson.
"Do we know when they will break ground?" asked Simpson. "The last I heard, it was supposed to be this spring."
Schumann replied that the fish plant is on schedule according to the government's fisheries strategy.
"We said we wanted to be able to build this thing in the first two or three years of the strategy," he said. "That is still the expectation of myself, for sure, and the department. We are finalizing the design project right now."
Schumann said the cost of the plant will still depend on the equipment that is going to be optioned for the building and the funding support received from the federal government.
"If we do secure all of the funding from the various different federal departments that the department has reached out to, we expect the top end of the price to be $12 million for the fish plant," the minister said.
In comments to The Hub on Feb. 9, Schumann said the GNWT has reached out to CanNor, Infrastructure Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is search of funds to help build a new plant.
As for the earlier prediction of possibly breaking ground in the spring, he said, "It's taking a little bit longer than we anticipated, but hopefully we can make some kind of announcement probably this year and start building next year."