Tar ponds by the numbers

Cape Breton Post
By Fred Jackson
Sat., Oct. 10, 2009

Dan White, a Sydney consultant, in his address to the Sydney Rotary Club this week, gave a detailed update on the economic impact the Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Remediation Project is having on Cape Breton. The statistics are impressive. The $400 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2014, and about 34 contracts valued at $94 million have been awarded to 19 firms in the April 2008 to March 2009 period. Seventeen of those firms are located in Cape Breton.

Here are some more numbers:
• Peak direct project employment of 520 persons;
• $71.2 million in project expenditures to March 2009 (18 per cent of budget);
• 61 per cent average Cape Breton content;
• Estimated 383 full-time equivalent jobs.

This is great news and there will be plenty of other spinoffs as result of this project, such as business and recreation facilities and a clean environment.