Skip to content

All eyes on region at RTA forum

RIO Tinto Alcan reached out to Vancouver industry last Wednesday, not only hunting for contractors for its modernization mega-project but promoting local industry and the northern lifestyle to the south.

RIO Tinto Alcan reached out to  Vancouver industry last Wednesday, not only hunting for contractors for its modernization mega-project but promoting local industry and the northern lifestyle to the south.

“This project will leave a lasting legacy to the province of B.C. and will contribute hundreds of much needed jobs to communities in the northwest,” said Kitimat Chamber of Commerce president Thom Meier in a press release following the event. Meier is also owner of Kitimat-based 101 Industries Ltd.

More than 200 contractors from across B.C. and Canada attended the Kitimat Modernization Project’s forum at the Vancouver Convention Centre June 22. The purpose of the forum was to attract qualified workers and inform the contractors about KMP’s $2.5 billion project.

It began with presentations by the project’s senior management, local industry and interests like the Kitimat and Terrace Chambers of Commerce. Afterwards, contractors networked and checked out the trade  show booths.

How qualified suppliers and contractors can access KMP opportunities was the talk of the day, and this access involved local business.

Terrace chamber president Janice Paulitschke said it was an informative and positive forum.

“There were contractors from Terrace and Kitimat that were invited down to network with the larger contractors...so that these large contractors can recognize that there are smaller contractors in our area that can help them, that they can partner with,” she said. “So it was an education for both sides.”

Paulitschke also noted great efforts have been made in making sure that the local area contractors are first in line to be asked to do the work.

“They’re very, very adament that these large contractors source the existing businesses...to help them complete the project,” she said.

Meier agrees.

“The whole idea of the forum was so that local contractors could offer support to [non-local contractors] if they do secure work in this area,” he said.

He explained that some aspects of this project are so big that they surpass the expertise of businesses here.

But by supporting those who get the larger contracts, he said, local businesses can expand their repertoires.

This not only prepared them to qualify for larger opportunities in the future but to expand their contact lists so work sought outside of Kitimat becomes a viable option in the future.

“It gives us opportunities that we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he said.

At the forum, a room for local businesses with trade show booths, called zone-one vendors, was abuzz.

Although the final dotted-line is yet to be signed off on the project, $300 million will be spent in 2011 as a “significant commitment to completing the modernization by 2014,” according to a Rio Tinto Alcan press release.

“When they do, many of the jobs will continue right through the winter,” said Meier.

Both Paulitschke and Meier spoke about local lifestyles and the surrounding area. Meier said he wanted to show those who might move here what the area has to offer.

“We understand there is going to be a transitional period for a lot of people,” he said to workers looking to come up north.

He showed pictures of the mountains, ocean and rivers, and talked about activities like hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.

“There was a lot of positive feedback on the area,” he said.

“We need to work together with our Terrace counterparts to get as much economic opportunity from this as we can,” said Meier.

Paulitschke noted that that the spinoff from this project will be huge, and local businesses and residents have to be prepared for the onslaught.

“Kitimat is at capacity, so we’re going to have the spin off and trickle effect into Terrace,” she said, saying that includes resaturants, laundry, catering, supplies, and housing and commercial rentals as well as local industry contractors.