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With the clock now ticking, the NDP government is launching work on the southwest ring road with the hope of having it completed ahead of schedule.

Questions remain however, over the timing of the western leg of the long-awaited roadway.

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Transportation Minister Brian Mason told reporters Tuesday the government wants to move quickly on construction to meet the deadline that requires the southwest section to be completed by May 2022.

“It’s up to us to get it done,” Mason said at an announcement at McDougall Centre, where he was accompanied by Tsuu T’ina Nation CEO Peter Manywounds.

“We expect to complete this section in six years. We have seven and there’s a lot at stake. So it’s very important, I think, that we proceed.”

After decades of false starts, the then-Progressive Conservative government reached a deal with the Tsuu T’ina Nation in 2013 that included $340 million in cash and a land swap to make way for the southwest ring road. If the seven-year deadline that kicked in with final federal approval isn’t met, the land transferred to the province reverts to the First Nation.

Mason said work will soon begin on fencing and initial preparations. Construction of the road itself, running from Highway 22X to Glenmore Trail, should begin next summer.