Image Credit: Trans Mountain

By James Peters

Trans Mountain

Without any further ado, Trans Mountain construction begins in Kamloops

Jun 1, 2020 | 12:35 PM

KAMLOOPS — Trans Mountain has begun construction of its pipeline twinning project in Kamloops today.

Trans Mountain president Ian Anderson days the first steps involve site preparation work between Ord Road and the Thompson River.

“It will initially start up around Ord Road where we come off the bluff and north of the airport. Then we’re going to prepare for the North Thompson crossing just south of the airport; we’ve got to drill another crossing underneath that river,” Anderson told CFJC Today. “So that will be the focal point over the next short while.”

While site preparation work is the focus of the coming weeks, actual work on the right-of-way won’t begin until near the end of June. The seven-kilometre section through the so-called Kamloops Urban Area is expected to take about seven months to complete.

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The initial workforce is about 170 people but Anderson says that will grow to about 600 by the end of the summer.

“The workers in and around the area will spend $40-to-$50 million just on local services — whether that’s hotels or dining or recreation or gas stations or hardware stores or dentists, you name it,” said Anderson. “We’re really, really happy to be starting in Kamloops.”

“We’ve got 17 hotels in and around Kamloops that are ready for us. We’re starting with three or four that are meeting all of our COVID-19 requirements, in terms of cleanliness, meal service and that kind of thing.”

Beyond the direct economic impact, Trans Mountain has also reached Community Benefit Agreements that will result in funding for the City of Kamloops and employment opportunities for Tk’emlups te Secwepemc (TTS) members.

“We’ll be working a lot with [the TTS] as we get out of Kamloops into the Pipsell-Jacko Lake area,” added Anderson. “There are lots of historical artifacts and burial sites up in that area that we’re working with Tk’emlups and Skeetchestn to protect.”

The global pandemic has delayed the start of construction in Kamloops by more than a month as Trans Mountain fine-tunes its workplace protocols. Anderson says those protocols have been working well, with no infections at any worksites.

“We’re very, very conscious of the impact construction has on a city like Kamloops. We’re going to be working closely with city officials and the Tk’emlups band to make sure that our presence there is a positive one.”