
No work is happening on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in Kamloops, for now, as the COVID-19 pandemic wears on.
In its construction schedule updated to April 1, the Crown Corporation says work in the Kamloops Urban Area will start in mid-June, instead of in April as was first planned. Work at Black Pines, north of Kamloops, will now be starting in mid-August instead of in June.
Its schedule says surveying in the Kamloops Urban Area was halted in mid-March, and is now expected to restart later this month.
It’s not clear how many workers have been temporarily laid off because of the delay in construction, and it’s also not clear what this means for the projected end date of the pipeline expansion, in late 2022, or what it means for the project’s expected cost of $12.6 billion dollars. NL News has asked these questions to Trans Mountain and is waiting for a response back.
Trans Mountain’s construction schedule is publicly available, but the news of delay was not shared with media until a news release was issued by Kamloops councillor Denis Walsh yesterday, saying this was a positive move by the corporation “that will likely help protect against spreading the deadly virus in the community.”
Watch this story for updates.