This week marks 100 days of construction on the Site C Clean Energy Project in northeast B.C. In the first 100 days of construction, work crews have been undertaking site preparation activities, including: clearing trees and vegetation at the dam site, upgrading public roads, building access roads at the dam site, constructing a 1,600-person worker accommodation facility, excavation and slope stabilization and starting work on a temporary construction bridge across the Peace River.
Highlights of the first 100 days of construction include:
- More than 600 people are currently working on the project and this number will continue to increase in the coming years.
- More than 1,000 people and over 200 businesses participated in jobs fairs and business-to-business networking sessions in October in Tumbler Ridge, Chetwynd and Fort St. John.
- 900 metres of public road improvements have been completed, with another 1.6 km of roadwork underway.
- Another 15 km of construction access roads are under construction within the dam site area.
- Over 530 hectares of land has been cleared as part of site preparation work.
- Approximately 13,000 cubic metres of timber has been delivered to local mills for processing.
- More than 1 million cubic metres of material has been excavated and relocated on the north bank of the dam site.
- A temporary 300-person work camp has been set up on site to house workers while the 1,600-person lodge is constructed.
- The first concrete pour took place for the worker accommodation lodge in October and the first dorms have been delivered to site.
Site preparation is the first step in an almost decade-long construction period for Site C. When the site preparation work is completed in early 2016, construction of the earthfill dam will begin. A contractor for main civil works is expected to be named later this year.
During construction, BC Hydro and its contractors are implementing mitigation measures to avoid or reduce effects on the environment and will comply with all federal and provincial conditions of approval.
