City seeks certainty for LRT project
Mayor urges fast decision on route, shared funds for $4.9B Green Line
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says three key decisions must be made early in the new year to lift the “cloud of uncertainty” surrounding the $4.9-billion Green Line LRT project.
“No. 1 is we must finalize the cash flow with the federal and provincial governments,” said Nenshi. “I don’t want to end up borrowing a lot of money and spending a lot in interest. If we can’t figure out a way to front-end load some of those federal payments, then we’ll have no choice but to delay the project to match the cash flow.
“It’s not the end of the world, but people have been waiting long enough.”
The last few months of 2019 have seen the Green Line beset by obstacles as the city continues to grapple with questions about the project’s final alignment and a significant throttling of provincial funds over the next four years. In October, the province announced it planned to withhold $480 million in funding for the megaproject in the short term, with the bulk of funds now expected to come in 2023 and future years.
In a year-end interview with Postmedia, Nenshi acknowledged that city council will have to act quickly if construction is to proceed as planned in 2021.
In addition to resolving the key question of cash flow, he said council must settle “once and for all” the design and alignment issues, specifically how the train will traverse the
Bow River and downtown. The city’s project team has said it is looking at options for a new route through the downtown, including a shortening of the underground tunnel.
Nenshi said elected officials will also have to sit down to discuss the UCP’S decision to impose a condition that could see provincial funding for the project terminated “without cause” and with just 90 days’ notice. “No private contractor is going to bid on this work if they think one of the partners can walk away with 90 days’ notice,” said Nenshi, who said he remained optimistic the situation was “solvable.”
“All three of them need to be solved quickly so that we can get rid of the cloud of uncertainty facing this project,” he said.
City council is expected to review revised Green Line route options during a closed session in January. A preferred option could finally be presented publicly to council’s Green Line committee in March.
Several council members and transit advocates have decried the province’s 90-day termination clause as an existential threat to the Green Line.
Coun. Ward Sutherland said that while he’s opposed to the clause, he understands the province’s stance on the Green Line.
“I don’t blame the province’s position on the Green Line because we have not ever, in how many years now, come out and said, ‘here’s the final route, here’s what it’s going to cost and we’re going to guarantee it’s going to be on budget’,” said Sutherland.
“We’ve been going in circles. We’re not giving the answers and if I’m going to invest and give that money out as a third party, I would want to know these things beforehand.”
Nenshi said while he understands the fiscal constraints the province is under, he suggested there were better alternatives to some of the cuts announced by the UCP in October — including the short-term cut to Green Line funding.
“There are many ways to get to fiscal balance (and) getting rid of your debt,” he said. “And I think doing that in a way that defers projects to a time when they are much more expensive, that doesn’t give people the essential services or infrastructure that they need, or that is not done in collaboration with your partners — particularly the city — is not the smartest way in order to move forward.”