Advocates Concerned About Future Funding Call for Full Cost of Calgary – Calgary LRT Green Line | The Canadian News

It’s the largest and most expensive infrastructure project in Calgary’s history, and proponents of the Green Line LRT project want to know how much it will cost when it’s fully completed.

Four and a half years have passed since the city council at that time voted to build the Green Line in two stages.

The first stage will begin in Shepard in the southeast of the city, tunnel under the city center to a bridge that crosses the Bow River, and will extend through Center St to 16 Ave N.

The price of the first stage is set at $ 5.5 billion and is financed by the city, the province and the federal government.

The first stage of the Green Line LRT project from Shepard to 16 Ave N.

Global News

The second stage would see the train line run north to Keystone and south to Seton, but the cost of that extension is not yet known.

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LRT on the Green, a group dedicated to defending the Green Line, is concerned that a lack of information could be a problem in securing funding for the second stage to complete the full 46-kilometer LRT line.

The second phase of the Green Line LRT project that would see extensions of the line north of Keystone and south of Seton.

Global News

According to Jeff Binks, director of LRT on the Green, the issue became urgent after the passage of Bill 73 in the Alberta legislature.

Bill 73, the Infrastructure Accountability Act, mandates the creation of a 20-year strategic capital plan for the Alberta government within the next year. One of the criteria listed in the legislation is that the full cost must be included in filings for those capital infrastructure investments, Binks said.

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“We are going to need a price tag over the next year to make sure that once we start building the first stage, we keep building and we keep building until Green Line reaches the people who really need it,” Binks told Global News. .

“We cannot afford to give the province of Alberta an excuse not to have the Green Line on its 20-year list.”


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Alberta Prime Minister and Government Confirm Calgary Green Line Has Green Light Following Approvals


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Earlier this year, the provincial government approved the business case for the north-south LRT line after a project review.

According to project officials, the delays have pushed back the timelines for the LRT Green Line, which is now not expected to be completed before its previous goal of 2026.

But the city mayor said completing the Green Line is a priority for the newly elected city council.

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“I have spent four years on the council fighting for the northern extension of the Green Line, before that I did it as a citizen … You have a council that is committed to that,” Jyoti Gondek said on Tuesday.

“We’ve been asking for cost estimates for a long time to make sure the work gets done and we need to have them delivered.”


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Calgary City Council to Receive Confidential LRT Green Line Update Monday


Calgary City Council Will Receive Confidential Green Line LRT Update Monday – May 2, 2021

However, the executive director of the Green Line project said those costs are not available.

Darshpreet Bhatti anticipates that details on what is needed to complete the northern stretch of the line could be released in the near future, but due to various factors, any previous analysis on those costs would now be out of date.

“It all depends on how long before we get to that stage, what are the market conditions, the financial economic conditions, where are our financing partners,” Bhatti said. “So there are a lot of unknown things and a lot of factors that should be taken into account at that time.”

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The proposed images of the Green Line show the path over the train entrance

Bhatti told Global News that there has been progress in preliminary work for the first stage of the LRT project, including awarding a contract to the company that will provide the LRT wagons for the Green Line, as well as work to relocate the underground utilities. along certain areas of the route.

He said he is hopeful the city can award a contract for the design and build phase of the project sometime in early 2024.


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Regarding the strategic plan for capital projects, the provincial government said it will be used as a guide.

“The 20-year strategic capital plan will inform how the government invests in long-term infrastructure, including for major projects like the Green Line,” transportation ministry spokesman Rob Williams said in a statement.

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Williams added that the provincial government remains committed to its $ 1.53 billion stake in the first leg of the LRT line.

Meanwhile, residents in the city’s north-central neighborhoods will have to rely on a fast bus route rather than an LRT.

Mayor Gondek told reporters Tuesday that work is underway to secure funding to improve the current express bus route.

“I used to work downtown and I used to take 301 (bus route), it’s pretty decent to have access to downtown and other places,” North-Central resident Teresa Van Loon told Global News. “But it would be nice to have a faster means of transportation.”

with files from Adam Toy of Global News

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.



Reference-globalnews.ca

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