Despite a six-week delay in submitting the technical and financial proposals from the consortia competing for the “infrastructure” component of Quebec’s tram system, Bruno Marchand swears the timeline for implementing the mega-project is “sustainable and realistic”.
• Also read: Acquired $37 million to create Sainte-Foy interchange hub
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This is what the mayor of Quebec said on Tuesday afternoon, minutes before the start of the penultimate local council meeting before the summer vacation.
Originally, the proposals were to be submitted in mid-July and mid-August.
However, these dates have been superseded by August 24 and October 5, respectively.
It should be noted that a government decree approving this new stage in the tram construction process is also expected in October.
“It was a request from the consortia [le changement de délais]. We agreed to postpone it by a few weeks, but that doesn’t change the goals that led us to the government decree. We accepted a short delay, but we will not accept other delays,” the mayor dropped.
A business case that is yet to come
Although the deadlines for obtaining the green light from the provincial level may seem short, the mayor explained at length that the most important element remains the business file, which must always be submitted in early July.
Discussions with the government are ongoing and this document will help refine them.
The technical and financial proposals made by the consortia should not influence these talks too much, he stressed.
Citing legal reasons, Mr Marchand again refused to say whether the two consortia selected in February 2022 – Mobilité de la Capitale and ModerniCité – are still in the running for the tramway infrastructure contract.
On the other hand, the Mayor of Quebec has minimized the cost of at least $37 million to acquire the parking lot at Route de l’Église 1200 to build the Sainte-Foy interchange there. He reiterated that the budget would have been similar if the municipality had chosen the expropriation route.
Survey conducted in the fall
On the other hand, Bruno Marchand announced that the survey on the subject of trams, which was expected at the end of spring, had been postponed to the beginning of the autumn school year at his request.
“A proposal was made to me [pour les questions du sondage]. I think we had to go further. There are things I want to know. We asked our world to work on a new version,” he said, without giving further details about the elements he seemed to be missing.
Patrick Paquet, head of Équipe Priorité Québec, again commented on the six-week delay in submitting the consortia’s proposals and said he was confident government approval would not come before 2024.
For his part, Claude Villeneuve, initially chief of Quebec, said he was “concerned” about this delay of a few weeks. The latter also wondered if Mayor Marchand planned to charge a fee as part of the streetcar project this year.
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