A few hundred metres down the highway, the Hillcrest apartments are being renovated. Down the hill, land clearing is underway for construction of a Microtel Inn, slated to open in August 2015.

All of it attests to a new-found sense of opportunity in Kitimat.

This small community — which has seen its permanent population plummet nearly 30 per cent since the mid-’90s — is in the midst of an economic boom, one fuelled in part by the prospect of two liquefied natural gas export plants that would tap into growing Asian demand for energy.

The two LNG plants — one led by Chevron (Kitimat LNG) and the other by Shell (LNG Canada) — will cost more than $20 billion. The pipelines that would supply the plants will add billions more to the price tag.

And while much of the money will be spent on the plant equipment, pipe and other supplies far from Kitimat, money will also be spent locally on workers, construction materials and fast-food outlets.

Kitimat has already tasted the effects of an industrial construction boom. The workforce for Rio Tinto’s $4.8-billion modernization of its aluminum smelter peaked at 3,200 this summer.

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