Rankin Inlet's building boom could create accommodation crunch
Last Updated: Friday, May 15, 2009 | 4:31 PM CT
CBC News
Construction season is about to ramp up in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, but with several major projects taking place this year, one of the hamlet's hoteliers is worried about an impending room shortage.
A trade school and a correctional facility are among the big construction projects slated to start this spring. Housing units will also be built this year, as well as an expansion of Rankin Inlet's Area Six.
While the building boom generates an influx of money and jobs for the town of 2,350, it can also mean no vacancies at the Turaarvik and Siniktarvik hotels, both overseen by the Kissarvik Co-op.
"We have between 65 and 70 rooms available, and during the week we get pretty full," co-op general manager Walter Morrey told CBC News.
"The busiest time of year seems to be from August up until November when the construction season is here, in addition to our regular travellers."
Morrey said both hotels operate at 80 to 100 per cent capacity during the peak season. The last thing he wants to do, he said, is turn customers away.
"We're kind of concerned. We wouldn't want to inconvenience our regular everyday travellers, the people that come here 12 months of the year," he said.
"But I think that's the normal situation in most of the Nunavut communities: in the construction season you have to really book your room in advance."
Shawn Maley, Nunavut's assistant deputy minister of community and government services, said the government tries to spread out construction projects so that they're not all happening at once.
But with Rankin Inlet's development booming, Maley said it can be difficult to juggle all the activity — a problem, he said, that is relatively new for it and other Nunavut communities.
"At one time, it was really difficult to get any kind of a quality hotel room in small communities. But now, for the most part, commercial accommodations are pretty darn good," Maley said.
"We're seeing the other end of the spectrum, where you're trying to balance that with ensuring that there's rooms available for people other than just the construction industry."
