FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – B.C. government officials are poised to make an announcement regarding the province’s Site C dam project which is currently under construction in Fort St. John.
The announcement will come after cabinet officials have been poring over an independent report on the status of the project.
The assessment was conducted by Peter Milburn, a former deputy finance minister who was appointed by the province as a special adviser to the project after reports showed it was having issues.
Officials have not commented on the contents of the report, stating that the results wouldn’t be made public until Premier John Horgan and his cabinet had time go over them.
One of the biggest criticisms of the hydroelectric project since early work began on it in 2015 has been its rising costs. A feasibility study done in 2007 put the project’s total cost at $6.6 billion but when the project was approved by the former premier, Christy Clark, it had a price tag of $8.3 billion.
It is not the first time the project’s future has been up in the air.
When current Premier John Horgan weighed cancelling it in 2017 reports estimated the dam would cost $10.7 billion to complete. After a review from the BC Utilities Commission, he determined the costs to cancel were too high and kept moving forward.
Since then the project has battled large tension cracks on the riverbank, fluctuating workforce levels due to the pandemic and court battles.
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