Greater Victoria’s two biggest infrastructure projects have been granted extensions on federal funding offers, giving local government officials a bit of relief.
Both the Johnson Street Bridge and the Capital Regional District’s wastewater-treatment projects were given an extra year to meet deadlines before losing a combined $104.4 million in support.
Nils Jensen, chairman of the CRD core-area liquid-waste management committee, said the extension was crucial to wastewater treatment plans. The extension was granted based on an aggressive work plan with key objectives and milestones.
“It was very important. If we hadn’t gotten the extension, we would have lost an $84-million grant,” said Jensen, who also announced Wednesday that he was stepping down as committee chairman.
The CRD now has until March 2016 to submit a detailed plan for wastewater treatment in the region, or risk losing $83.4 million in funding from PPP Canada. In addition to the PPP Canada grant, the federal government has committed $120 million from the Building Canada Fund and $50 million from the Canada Green Fund toward the project.
Although the other two federal funds have deadlines of 2019, Jensen said he believed the Building Canada grant would have been in jeopardy if support from PPP Canada was pulled.
“They had made it very clear to us their funding depended on PPP funding,” he said.
Victoria also received word that the federal government has extended its funding for the Johnson Street Bridge replacement project.
“We’re proposing to wrap up some time in June of 2017 and our funding is good until March of 2018, so that’s good news,” project director Jonathan Huggett said Wednesday.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps welcomed the news. “What it means is that we will now be within the funding guidelines for finishing this very large infrastructure project,” she said.
“It required just a simple letter to update them on the project. I’m very, very grateful for their flexibility and also their understanding that large, complex projects like this do take time.”
The federal government is contributing up to $37.5 million to the Johnson Street Bridge, including $21 million from the Building Canada Fund, which had been slated to expire in March 2017. The government is also providing $16.5 million from the Gas Tax Fund.
