VAST PROJECT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1943, Page 4

VAST PROJECT

NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN CANADA. OVERSHADOWS BOULDER DAM DEVELOPMENT. MONTREAL. Mr Howe, Minister of Munitions and Supply recently revealed that Canada has undertaken somewhere in her vast wilderness a construction project —nameless for war reasons—which overshadows the great Boulder Dam development in the United States. “A similarity of methods was employed and similar results were obtained,” Mr Howe stated, “but it should be remembered that the Canadian project had to contend with conditions that did not prevail in Arizona, such as extreme cold, snow, ice and heavy rains. “The Canadian project also had to contend with a wartime shortage of labour and materials. Double the number of men had to be employed in the Canadian project to rush the work through in time. Men had to be trained for the job, and an unusual amount of construction equipment had to be employed to maintain the schedule. At Boulder Dam the peak employment was 5,250 men, whereas in Canada the peak employment was 10,140 men. ‘■‘The United States Government allowed the contractors at Boulder Dam seven years to complete the work, although the contract was actually completed in five years. In Canada, the somewhat larger project will have been completed within two and a half years. “As a matter of fact, the initial power was being used from the Canadian development within a period of 18 months from its commencement. The installed capacity of Boulder Dam, as of a year ago last January, was 975,000 horsepower, whereas the installed capacity of our Canadian development will be 1,020,000 horsepower.” Canada during the past three years has built up new productive capacity to a value of more than 1,000,000,000 dollars. Mi’ Howe said, and peacetime uses can be found for 90 per cent of this capacity.