The Prince George Airport Authority (PGAA) is hopeful two major projects meant to draw cargo-carrying jets to the facility will be completed by the end of this year.
That's three months later than the end-of-September date originally hoped for, but while a long winter and a wet summer has slowed progress, work is definitely underway on a cross-dock cargo storage facility and fuel tank farm.
"It's slipped but it's not a big change," PGAA operations manager Kuyler Green said Tuesday of the new deadline.
Green said Western Star Ventures Ltd., a locally-based company behind the cross-dock facility, has ordered a prefabricated building and it's expected to arrive in Prince George in the third week of September.
The 25,000-square-foot structure is designed for cargo storage, inspection and transshipment as well as equipment staging for north end operations at a cost of $2 million.
As for the fuel tank farm, Green said the civil works are out to tender now and a contractor should be found in the next two weeks with that aspect completed by the end of October. But the delivery of the fuel system itself will probably be much closer to the end of December.
"And that depends primarily on the ability for suppliers to provide the tank delivery from multiple manufactures," Green said. "We've called a lot of them and they're all running in the many months lead time.
"There are a lot of people out there looking for fuel tanks, apparently, not just in Prince George."
Green could not say for sure why there is a shortage of the tanks but speculated rising activity in the oil and gas and mining sectors are the reason.
Sands Bulk Transport, also locally based, is behind that project, also estimated at $2 million.
The two projects are considered the finishing touches the airport needs to convince cargo carriers transporting goods between Asia and North America to refuel at the airport following completion of an 11,451-foot runway in September 2008 at a $36-million cost.
Once the facilities are completed, the PGAA will be able to showcase them to prospective customers, who've made it clear they want to see completed facilities before committing to using the airport.
