Private plowing for the bypass

When the first snow falls on the finished Regina bypass, Ministry of Highways snowplows won’t be allowed to clear it off.

That’s about 20 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway — from the outskirts of Regina to Balgonie — that will be left in the hands of the private company contracted to build the $1.8-billion project.

“So what?” ministry spokesman Doug Wakabayashi asked Thursday.

Wakabayashi doesn’t see an issue with workers being unable to clear the kilometres of road, saying it’s not as though “nobody’s plowing.”

He argued that the international conglomerate in charge of the project is “contractually obligated to provide the same, or higher, level of service we’re providing now.”

If they don’t, he said, they can expect to miss out on cash.

“There is very significant, ongoing performance monitoring ... and if they’re not meeting those standards, then there’s very significant penalties,” he said.

“SO WHAT? (IT’S NOT AS THOUGH) NOBODY’S PLOWING.”

DOUG WAKABAYASHI

Plus, he said, ministry snowplows already trundle down roads in major cities — the Ring Road, for example, and Circle Drive — their buckets in the air.

The Opposition has had problems with the public-private partnership (P3) bypass project for months, but this week has raised questions specific to winter maintenance.

Because the project was an integrated bid, the amount taxpayers will hand over just for maintenance isn’t broken out from the figure that includes risk transfer.

So while anyone can look at the 2015-16 budget and see that the Ministry of Highways has budgeted $29 million for winter maintenance on all of the province’s highways, how much is paid to keep the bypass clear of snow is anybody’s guess.

Rupen Pandya, president of SaskBuilds, said the valuefor-money report — due to be released next month — will show what government estimated the maintenance cost to be.

However, the public will have nothing to compare it to.

When that report is released, Pandya said, “the public will have an appreciation of the value-for-money savings of pursing this project traditionally, versus as a P3.”

NDP deputy leader Trent Wotherspoon said Thursday that the failure to release specific figures speaks to the government’s “secrecy and ‘Just trust us’ approach.”

“Saskatchewan people deserve transparency, and deserve to know the deals their government enters them into are in their best interests,” he said.