NDP calls for review of P3 school plans

The NDP Opposition wants an independent technical review of the government’s plans to build 18 new schools through a public-private partnership bundling, education critic Trent Wotherspoon says.

“Government’s taking sort of a ‘just trust us’ approach,” Wotherspoon told reporters Monday after question period at the Legislative Building in Regina.

“What Saskatchewan people deserve is … the real numbers, and they also need to articulate the entire full life-cycle cost to Saskatchewan people. And it’s not good enough for governments to simply boast or suggest numbers … What you really need is some sort of independent analysis on that front, something that’s lacking right now.”

Wotherspoon said the Opposition is “working on a mechanism” that it will “be speaking to in the coming days.”

He suggested there could be an independent body — appointed by perhaps a legislative committee and maybe on a contract — that has the technical capacity to analyze and make sure accountability is there before money is spent on a project such as the bundling of nine facilities into a P3.

SaskBuilds Minister Don McMorris faced questions Monday about the costs of the project based on the estimate Premier Brad Wall gave when announcing the P3 plans last week.

Wall said the traditional cost of the project — 18 new schools in nine joint-use buildings that each accommodate one public school and one separate school — would be $450 million, or $50 million per facility.

The P3 process is expected to bring that down to $420 million, or about $47 million per building, Wall said.

Asked how that compares to the contract to build the Willowgrove joint-use facility in Saskatoon for under $31 million, McMorris said that figure doesn’t include other costs such as furniture and professional services.

The estimated total Willowgrove cost is actually closer to $40 million, a government spokesperson said later.

“We believe that there is going to be savings. We believe that the schools will be built sooner … It’s tough for us to pinpoint those savings exactly … We took an average of what it costs to build a school of that size and kind of figured out from Alberta what that savings could look like,” McMorris said.