EDMONTON, ALBERTA – January 31, 2019
I’m pleased to relay that, earlier today, the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, Ontario, announced “Ontario’s Government working for the People has taken decisive action to designate NextBridge as the transmitter to build a 450-kilometer, double-circuit transmission line from Thunder Bay to Wawa, known as the East-West Tie Line Project”.
To provide background, in December of 2017, Quanta Services announced that Valard was selected by NextBridge Infrastructure to construct the Ontario East-West Tie Line Project. Then, in February of 2018, Hydro One filed a Section 92 application with the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to design, build and operate the new East-West Tie transmission line. Today’s announcement by Minister Rickford comes after a public hearing and consultation process that included expressions of support for the NextBridge/Valard option from the local (Northern Ontario) communities, the latest of which was communicated earlier this month.
Valard will continue to work closely with Supercom Industries, a 100% Aboriginal-owned joint venture by the six First Nations proximate to the East-West Tie transmission line, to hire qualifying candidates from the First Nation communities.
Valard will provide comprehensive construction services, including project management, material management, construction permitting and the construction of double circuit 230 kilovolt transmission line connecting Hydro One’s Wawa Transformer Station, Marathon Transformer Station and Lakehead Transformer Station.
As Duke Austin, Quanta’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said in 2017 “Quanta is proud to have been selected by NextBridge for this critical project, which is designed to enhance the longterm reliability of the electricity supply in northwestern Ontario. We have a long track record of safely and cost-effectively executing large electric transmission projects in Canada and look forward to applying our expertise to this project. Further, the project is expected to create up to 700 jobs during construction and provide additional economic benefits to the local community through the purchase of goods and services necessary to support operations.”
On behalf of Valard management, I’m pleased to see the restart of this project and look forward to completing it safely with the help of our Indigenous and community partners – we anticipate a project that is a win/win/win for all stakeholders.
Adam Budzinski
President and Chief Executive Officer
Valard Construction