ATCO Ltd. is taking on a 40 per cent ownership stake in an Inuit-led road-and-port project in Nunavut.

The Calgary-based company says it will provide about $10 million in a staged investment to West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.

WKR is developing the Grays Bay Road and Port Project, which has been referred to the newly established federal major projects office.

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The office was set up last year to speed infrastructure developments deemed to be in the national interest.

The WKR project includes a new deepwater port on the Northwest Passage, a 230-kilometre all-season road connecting to the Northwest Territories boundary and a more than 1,800-metre airstrip.

The companies say the Grays Bay Road and Port project could have military and civilian uses, and would help create the first overland connection between Arctic Ocean deepwater and the North American highway system.