BC pledges $21M to re-establish essential services ahead of Lytton rebuild

The Government of BC announced further funding for the Village of Lytton today.

The Province is committing $21 million to help re-establish essential infrastructure and services, and sustain ongoing recovery efforts, ahead of the rebuild.

Federal and provincial ministers announced earlier this month that the rebuild of Lytton will begin by September.

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"Over the past year, Lytton residents have shown tremendous strength as the community has come together to recover from what was lost," said Mike Farnworth, BC’s minister of public safety.

"With new funding to help get essential services and infrastructure back up and running, the Village of Lytton is taking another step forward on this challenging journey of rebuilding.”

The new funding will support priorities identified in the Village of Lytton's recovery plan, which include:

• The restoration of crucial services, such as fire protection, to enable residents to safely return to the community and start their own rebuilding efforts.
• The reconstruction of key municipal infrastructure, including the Village office, and the assessment for repair of water and sewer infrastructure.
• Ensuring adequate staffing is in place for recovery-related municipal operations, including improving consistent communication with residents.

"Earlier this year, provincial funding helped the Village of Lytton undertake debris removal and remediation work on all properties to restore the ground so residents could look ahead to rebuilding," said Jennifer Rice, parliamentary secretary for emergency preparedness.

"Now, additional funding will help the Village take necessary next steps to assist people starting to safely return to the area and know that they are supported with essential services.”

Rice noted that it will include taking steps to help build back water infrastructure in a way that addresses the historical challenges faced even before the fire.

The Province has previously pledged $9.3 million and $18.4 million for Lytton, while the feds are sending more than $200 million from the disaster assistance fund to BC for communities affected by 2021 wildfires.