Northwest B.C. is gearing up for a business boom as the province gets ready to break ground on the $404 million Northwest Transmission Line.
“I’ve used the word before and I’ll say it again: it’s going to be transformational,” Terrace mayor David Pernarowski told Business in Vancouver.
“To start, it’s just the construction phase … and that construction will bring jobs and opportunity and all the good things associated with it.”
Last month, the province approved the power line, which is to stretch 344 kilometres north along Highway 37 between Terrace and Bob Quinn Lake.
A number of resource companies lauded the approval, reminding shareholders their projects were located near the power line route.
The project is expected to open up a new frontier for B.C.’s resource industry, which has had trouble developing projects in the northwest due to a lack of affordable electricity.
The power line is also expected to generate development opportunities in several communities that will be plugged into the province’s power grid.
A number of northwest businesses told BIV the project is a welcome development for a region that’s been economically starved for years.
“The last decade has been difficult, not only for Terrace but for many communities in northwestern British Columbia and northern B.C. because of the decline in the forestry sector,” Pernarowski said.
Check out this week’s edition of BIV for the first article in a three-part series that examines the potential of the power line to generate business and investment opportunities.