Aging wooden jetties at CFB Esquimalt will be replaced with modern facilities, potentially creating up to 1,400 jobs in the Capital Region.

The planned steel-and-concrete A and B jetties will be able to accommodate modern naval ships and will cost between $430 million and $530 million to design and build, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said at CFB Esquimalt on Monday.

A $19.7-million construction contract was awarded last year to Scans Construction Ltd. to build a utility corridor as the first phase of the project.

The corridor will connect infrastructure services from Transport Road, along Hospital Road and Rainbow Drive, to A and B jetties.

The corridor will eventually act as the main conduit for all communication cabling on the base, thereby increasing repair efficiency. It is proceeding in several steps and is currently scheduled for completion by October 2013.

The jetties themselves are still in the design phase and the overall project cost will be refined when that work is complete, MacKay said.

Four frigates/destroyers, two Arctic/offshore patrol ships, one auxiliary oiler replenishment ship and submarines will make use of the new berths.

dpalmer@vicnews.com