Federal and provincial bucks will soon be available to Tri-City municipalities and Kwikwetlem First Nation to help pay for better utility infrastructure.
Starting next Thursday, the B.C. government will accept applications under the new Environmental Quality Program, a $243-million bilateral initiative designed to improve drinking water, waste water and storm water systems.
The federal government is offering $132 million for the program, which falls under the Green Infrastructure stream of the Investing in Canada plan in B.C.
Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam MP Ron McKinnon said the program “is the first of its kind in Canada.”
“I am pleased to work hard with our cities and First Nations to ensure they get their fair share,” he said in a news release, issued today (Thursday).
The funding news comes as Kwikwetlem First Nation, which has its two reserves in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, builds a 90-acre business park off Pitt River Road in PoCo.
The band, which has numerous land claims in the Tri-Cities, is currently developing a servicing agreement with the city of PoCo to tie into its sanitary, sewer and water pipes; the two agencies plan to meet next month on the matter.
