Construction of the first leg of a northern highway down the east side of Lake Winnipeg will start this year, the province said today.
There’s $15 million in the NDP budget, unveiled Wednesday, to rebuild Rice River Road, the rough gravel highway between Hollow Water First Nation and the Bloodvein First Nation.
It will take five years to complete the road, and then discussions will begin about extending it up the rest of the east side of Lake Winnipeg to Berens River, and beyond. That will require federal cash, said aboriginal leaders.
The road project is part of a $2-billion roads budget over the next five years the NDP has been touting since last fall.