Hundreds of contractors in northeastern Ontario are having construction projects delayed as they wait for underground infrastructure like natural gas and hydro lines.

In Ontario, anyone who wants to dig is required to go through Ontario One Call.

That facilitator agency contacts respective utility companies that have underground infrastructure at the site.

Legally, each company has five days to provide details on where the infrastructure is located, or they’ll be penalized. No work can take place until the locates are all labelled.

But according to the president of the Timmins Construction Association, builders have been waiting between one and three months for locate requests on construction projects.

In construction, a locate is a marking on the ground that shows the location of underground infrastructure, such as utilities like natural gas lines and water lines. 

“A locate has to be done legally so that people know what’s in the ground from wires to gas lines so that nobody does get hurt,” Timmins Construction Association president Jamie Clarke said.

“And so in turn this is really affecting the livelihood of contractors because of the small window to do their construction time within,” he added.

Clarke said these delays with locate requests are creating a ripple effect with deadlines and budgets for builders.

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