Massive investments point to promising future for region
August 25, 2020, 11:24 am
Take a look through this newspaper this week or just about any week and you will see evidence that there is a bright future for the region.
Not just because of the new businesses that are always opening (like Erin’s IDA in Esterhazy), indicating that people feel comfortable enough with the future of the area that they are willing to invest everything in their local communities.
Not just because of the strong evidence that people in this area care about their neighbors. We see again and again stories of people who go above and beyond to care for their neighbors and friends, like the article on page 6 this week about people rallying around Barry Aiken in his hour of need. In a time where more than ever people can live and work wherever they want, strong communities are more important than ever.
Not just because of the people in this area who work so hard to build organizations and their communities. In an article of this week’s newspaper, Rob talked to the people who run two very vital football programs, in the Moosomin and Esterhazy areas, about the effect of Covid-19 on their programs. People investing their time and efforts in community organizations is important for vital communities.
All of those things are important, and the massive investments coming into our communities for major projects shows that some very large players have a lot invested in the future of our region and are continuing to invest.
Look at the massive projects that have brought people to our area of southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba in the last few weeks. Each of these represents a massive investment in the area:
On the front page of this week’s newspaper we have an article on the latest phase of the ongoing $3 billion K3 project at Mosaic Esterhazy.
The latest phase of the project is a continuous slipform pour of the south headframe at K3.
A slipform is a massive form that is raised as the concrete is poured. Concrete is continually poured and the slip will rise at six and a half inches an hour for more than three weeks.
In this week’s newspaper we have an article on a project coming up at Nutrien Rocanville in October, and an acquisition that will add 30 years of life to the Rocanville mine.
The project this fall will involve up to 600 workers, working 24/7 for four weeks.
Nutrien is looking at additional investments at Rocanville to bring the original mill up to the speed of the second mill that was added with the last major expansion.
The land acquisition is something that won’t be necessary for decades into the future, but the fact that Nutrien made this investment shows the confidence it has in the future of this area and the Rocanville potash mine.
In last week’s newspaper we had an article on a TransGas project that has brought 220 people to the area.
TransGas, which owns Saskatchewan’s natural gas transmission system, has massive gas storage caverns under the ground north of Moosomin. (I tell ya, between pipelines, mining, oil and gas and TransGas, there is more going on under the ground in this area than some areas see going on above the ground some days.)
TransGas is building a gas transmission pipeline from the Moosomin area to the Nutrien Rocanville mine site to accommodate a project there.
A couple of weeks back we had an article on the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. That project brought 250 people to the area, doing work that was complicated by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Ongoing investments in oil and natural gas pipelines in the area are important to the future of the region, and if we ever have a federal government with the basic common sense to move a project like Energy East forward, it will only make the future of this area brighter.
This area of the world has a bright future, and the massive investments in the area show confidence in that future.
