Three scenarios submitted by the capital’s transport network (RTC) to relaunch the Newton garage site for electric buses have been refused by the government; The project remains “on full break”.
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The information was communicated to the director general of RTC, Nicolas Girard, in a letter of which The newspaper obtained a copy.
“After analyzing the three scenarios that were presented to meet June 18, none of them makes it possible to register in the current budgetary context of the Quebec government,” said the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility in this communication.
It was not possible to detail the three scenarios or their costs. Friday afternoon, the RTC was unable to provide information.
Less expensive solutions
Thus, the government authorities stress that “the project will be placed on full break in order to assess other less expensive possibilities, thus making it possible to optimize public investment in fixed assets”.
The Newton garage site had been stopped by the Legault government in April for financial reasons.
“I remind you that the estimated cost of the project increased from $ 201.1M to $ 648.1M, an increase of $ 447.0M,” reiterates the ministry in his letter.
Sudden stop deplored
For its part, the RTC deplored this sudden judgment and the “shameless waste of public funds”. The leaders had expressed their misunderstanding before this reversal of the situation, while the project and its financial assembly had been approved by the government authorities a few months before breaking.
The RTC said that $ 94 million had already been engaged, in addition to $ 2 million which were spent to “cover a portion of the wintering work necessary for the protection of the works already carried out on the site”.
At the Ministry of Transport, spokesperson Nicolas Vigneault said that becoming a request to reimburse the sums engaged, “the financial contribution of the ministry will be paid to RTC according to the eligible expenses to the financial aid programs”.
