TERRACE STANDARD ~ Businise REVIEW Out & About Construction still sagging THE ECONOMIC malaise here is continuing to show up in a slow start to construction, Construction dropped dramati- cally in Terrace last year after the Skeena Cellulose crisis erupted, And despite an unseasonably warm El Nino winter that should have given developers an early start, not much has happened. The City of Terrace recorded just $212,500 worth of building permits to the end of February. That's way below past years, when the city has consistently topped $1.4 million by this point, A year ago, the city had re- corded five single-family housing starts by the end of February. This year there are none. The only permits issued so far have been for a few commercial renovalions and a couple of small residential additions. Imports ahoy SOME OF THE rail cars head- ing cast through town are going to be full of steel from now on. The Port of Prince Rupert has Janded its first major import deal to bring in 70,000 tonnes of high- grade Japanese steel. The steel is being transported by rail to Camrose, Alberta, where a firm called Campipe will turn it into large diameter pipe for the oil and gas pipeline industry. TWILIGHT SPAS & PUMP SUPPLY Phone 638-0947 » 4704 Keith ih Ave, Terrace « Fax 638-0948 Band pumps cheap gas Station converts fuel into jobs TAX-FREE gas started flowing through the pumps at the newly opened Kitsumkalum gas station last week, And local native drivers immedi- ately began driving the extra few minutes west to gas up for six cents a litre cheaper than in town. Because the band-operated sta- tion is located on reserve, it doesn’t have to charge the provincial tax on gasoline to customers who have a status card and band number. The result is that status natives can fill up for 48.9 cents a litre, while customers who aren’t status natives pay 54.9 cents a litre — the same as other pas stations in town. Although the provincial tax on gas is 11 cents a litre, the station isn't passing alang the entire saving to its customers. About five cents a litre is being withheld to belp pay for the cost of building the station, says chief councillor Steve Roberts. But while the station may seem to be about cheap gas, from the point of vicw of the band, it?s about creating jobs and fighting the reserve’s high unemployment rate. Station manager Emie Gerow says the gas station is providing full and part-time jobs for at least eight band members, plus he says there are about seven students who will also get a few hours work cach week to give them job experience. ‘'There’s so few jobs out there and when young people go looking for a job, people ask for experi- ence,’’ Gerow said. ‘‘Hopefully we can provide some of that here.”’ Roberts says there’s been plenty of interest. “Some students are voluntecring their time so they can leam the KITSUMKALUM Tempo gas har jockey Stacy Spalding pumps some of the first litres of gas last week at the band-operated station. ropes,”” he said. “‘They’re really eager to get to work.” Besides offering tax-exempt gas, the station has strategic position as the last place to fill up before leav- ing town for Prince Rupert, and being right across the road from the Fishermen’s Park boat launch. The station was a long time in coming — band officials had been planning the project for three years. The big obstacle was that major gas companies were unwilling to invest in it because land on reserve can never be owned outright — it’s always held in trust by the Crown. The band gave up on a deal with a big company, built the station themselves, and arranged supply of gas from Federated Co-op. General Viotors of Canada is pleased to recognize Ted Hicks, Sales Manager of McEwan GM in Terrace, as one of the “ALL STAR” sales managers in the recent General Motors “President’s Challenge” Sales Contest. Mr. Hicks is _ pictured here receiving a Bobby Orr autographed All Star Commemorative Jacket from Bobby Orr at the awards ceremony held in Vancouver on the 1998 NHL Ail Star Hockey Weekend. Seen here from left to right is GM District Sales Manager Karen Johnson, Bobby Orr, Ted Hicks & GM B.C. Zone Manager Blair Upton. Again, congratulations to Ted Hicks and McEwan GM. “They were the only ones who showed interest right from the be- ginning,* said Gerow. ‘We sent business plans around lo all the major oil companies. Most of them wouldn’t even acknowledge us with a phone call.’” The project also ran into un- expected delays last year after the band found itself among Skeena Cellulose’s unpaid creditors, Roberts said SCI never paid its bill for $177,000 worth of rock from the band’s quarry, forcing the ‘band to rearrange its financing plans for the gas station. But Roberts said the band is hoping to recover ils losses because it anticipates turning a profit of at least $100,000 a year on the station. 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