Plans to build a new cemetery in Iqaluit are on hold again, and city officials say the whole project may have to start over from scratch.

Iqaluit city officials have been scrambling to build a new cemetery because space was running out at the existing cemetery. (CBC)

Engineering and sustainability director Meagan Leach told city councillors on Tuesday that another technical review is needed for the new cemetery, which is being built near the Road to Nowhere.

The city has been scrambling to build a new cemetery since the existing graveyard, located in the beach area, started running out of plots in recent years.

But Leach said city staff want to cordon off the new cemetery site and hire an engineering firm to conduct a review.

"The first thing that they would have to do is confirm that the site is suitable to continue new construction," Leach said at Tuesday night's council meeting.

Temporarily halted last year

City council halted construction at the Road to Nowhere cemetery site last summer, after workers found the terrain to be too rocky for burials. Councillors later decided to put more money into the project and continue with construction.

About 120 plots have been built to date, and the city has budgeted more than $400,000 for the project.

Leach, who was not involved in the cemetery work last year, said although the city did bring in consultants when it started construction, there is no adequate engineering design.

"So I feel like it would be wise to see, from that perspective, what the recommendations would be in terms of proceeding and … how much it would cost to get what outcome," she said.

Leach suggested that council put off cemetery construction until next year, as her department has many other construction priorities to pursue this summer.

Whole process flawed: councillor

Coun. Romeyn Stevenson said the whole cemetery construction process has been flawed.

"I find myself not being able to get my words in the right order when talking about the cemetery because it makes me so angry," he said.

"It wasn't suitable last summer. It's not suitable for a burial site. But we made what we made suitable, in the end, by throwing a lot of money at it."

Public works officials said Iqaluit's existing cemetery is not as full as they had feared before, as an additional 80 plots have since been created there.

Leach said that gives the city two or three years before new space is needed. But whether the new plots will be at the Road to Nowhere site remains up for debate.