City can no longer afford Green Line LRT project, Calgary mayor says
CBC
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Wednesday morning that the city's Green Line LRT project is, for all intents and purposes, scrapped — at least for the foreseeable future.
Her comments come after Alberta's Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, Devin Dreeshen, sent a letter Tuesday in which he said the province would pull its portion of the funding, a total of $1.53 billion.
He called the city's recently revised Green Line LRT plan "unacceptable" and one that was "fast becoming a multibillion-dollar boondoggle."
The latest provincial move now significantly changes the prospects for the project, Gondek said.
"As a result of that … we are no longer as a city able to afford the cost of this project," she said.
"Unfortunately, the delay that will come from this review that's been requested and the uncertainty in the market will elevate costs."
In an interview on CBC Calgary's The Homestretch on Aug. 1, Dreeshen said the funding was "100 per cent" secure.
That assurance came in the aftermath of a vote by city council in late July to cut six stations from the initial phase of the Green Line and to increase its budget by $700 million to over $6.2 billion.
In a letter addressed to Gondek two days prior to those comments, dated July 29, Dreeshen stated the provincial funding would not be reduced or pro-rated as long as certain conditions were met.
Those included that the scope for the first phase of the Green Line connects to the existing Red and Blue lines in downtown Calgary and integrates the provincial master plan, specifically the grand central station next to the planned arena and entertainment district.
At a special meeting Wednesday, council voted to bring up the issue with Premier Danielle Smith to discuss transferring the project and its financial risks over to the Alberta government, among other things.
The province said in its Tuesday letter that it will move forward by contracting out a third party to provide alternative proposals for the LRT line that integrates the Red and Blue lines along Seventh Avenue S.W., and the province's proposed grand central station for inter-city rail service at the east end of the entertainment district.
But that would include reviews of the project as it stands, delaying it even further and incurring more costs.
"I don't see a big problem with a little bit of a slowdown and a review, maybe an audit to see if we can do this better," said Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean.
