Mayor hopeful for positive news on Green Line

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — With no timeline on when to expect completion of the province’s review of the Green Line LRT project in Calgary, rising construction costs could provide further concerns.

Construction has already been delayed on the $5-billion transit development, with the Alberta government not signing off on their portion of the agreement until various issues are resolved.

Transportation Minister Ric McIver has said repeatedly that he hopes the review is done soon, that their issues are not political, and they are committed to doing their due diligence on the Green Line.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said on Monday that he also does not have any idea when the review may wrap up, which is a concern as the cost of materials is going up.

“The price escalation that we’re seeing in construction is hitting all projects, and of course a huge project like that is going to be hit with huge numbers. But we’ve got a contingency plan, we know how to move forward based on council’s direction last summer, and we’re just waiting on the province now,” Nenshi said.

Nenshi said they wanted to procure all the land from the south end of the line up to Eau Claire to provide some more certainty, and then they could develop a bridge over the Bow river to eventually connect it up north.

Fortunately, the mayor added that the province has indicated it is ready to accept a formal business case from the city, and that could be ready within a matter of weeks.

“They wouldn’t accept (the business plan) because they had all these questions that have now apparently been resolved with exactly what we had before,” he said.

Even though there have been some setbacks for the project, Nenshi remains hopeful that they can still stay on budget and eventually get this done.

“I think it’s going to be a little bit delayed,” he said.

“Because we normally would have been awarding that contract by the end of this year and we would’ve had some early works this year. I don’t think that’s possible anymore, I think we’ll see stuff start in the spring of next year.”

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