The timeline of Champlain has not changed, said Ottawa

Photo courtesy
Amarjeet Sohi, federal Minister of Infrastructure

Boris Proulx

Monday, 26 march 2018 23:45

UPDATE
Monday, 26 march 2018 23:45

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OTTAWA, The Trudeau government denies that it is negotiating for an extension of the period of the construction of the new Champlain bridge, still scheduled for December, he says.

“We are still aiming for December 2018 for the opening of the new Champlain bridge […]. We are in discussions on the acceleration [of the work] and the price of this acceleration, ” repeated Monday the minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Amarjeet Sohi.

Two employees of his firm have also denied that Ottawa considers the option to extend the duration of the work.

Otherwise

However, the director of the coordination of the company responsible for the site, Daniel Genest, said the opposite to our Office of investigation.

The consortium Group Signature on the Saint-Laurent (SSL) would negotiate a new schedule with the federal government, in the framework of the settlement of a lawsuit. The timetable for December 2018 is unrealistic, according to sources with the Bureau of investigation in the field.

The old Champlain bridge is being kept alive by Ottawa until June 2019, for security and contingency, at a cost of $53 million.

The opposition in Ottawa, sees this affair as a management problem by the government.

“The liberals cannot manage budgets or infrastructure projects,” writes the spokesman for conservative infrastructure, Michael Chong.

“The government needs to be transparent. Is it that there are concerns at the level of the security, at the level of the construction site ? ” request, for his part, new democrat member of parliament of Beloeil–Chambly, Matthew Dubé.