Officials with the Port of Vancouver are urging the federal government to approve its Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project to help mitigate the economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A project like Roberts Bank Terminal 2 holds tremendous opportunity for Canada, now and into the future,” said Duncan Wilson, vice-president of environment, community and government relations for the port. “The project would inject more than $2 billion in capital investment into the national economy, and would create over 12,000 construction jobs, and over 12,000 direct and indirect operating jobs.”
Wilson added that at a time when governments will be considering publicly-funded stimulus, the business case for Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is driven by trade and market economics that will unleash private investment to fund the project through an operator’s long-term lease payments. He noted the project does not require taxpayer dollars.
The project would add a new terminal with three berths, increasing the port’s container capacity by almost 50 per cent.
Wilson explained during the nearly six-year construction period, the project would be a boon to the construction industry, creating approximately 13,000 person years of direct, indirect and induced employment, worth approximately $1 billion in wages. Direct construction jobs may include positions like operating engineers, concrete masons, ironworkers, carpenters, heavy equipment operators, welders, millwrights among others. If the project gets the green light this year, Wilson expects work to start in 2022.
“While COVID-19 is having some short-term impacts on trade volumes due to a variety of factors, this project is not set to open until late this decade, which is long-past the horizon for the current pandemic,” said Wilson. “In the meantime, the construction-related activity will provide much-needed stimulus at a time when the country will still be in recovery mode.”
In March, the federal government’s independent review panel released its environmental assessment report for the project. The panel had no concerns about logistics of building and operating the facility but noted there would be major implications to the environment. The panel advised the port to try and reduce these impacts, including noise that could disturb salmon, crabs and whales.
“We are pleased with the review panel’s findings and recommendations and believe the panel has provided us with a roadmap as to how, on top of our existing proposed mitigation measures, we can further mitigate project related effects,” said Wilson, who expects Ottawa to review the report and then issue a final decision in the fall.
In addition to the Roberts Bank project, the port is also working on its Centerm Expansion Project and has a number of shovel-ready projects that Wilson said could help bolster economic activity once COVID-19 subsides.
These fully funded projects focus on road and rail improvements to increase the movement of goods to and from the port. They include an overpass and underpass in Pitt Meadows, an overpass in the industrial lands in Richmond and an overpass in Burnaby. In total, there are 10 infrastructure projects underway at a combined value of $1.2 billion.
The port also has two more projects in the planning phase in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.
we definitely need upgrades at the ports.