Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some more questions today for the Minister of Transportation. It goes back to my Member’s statement talking about the Deh Cho Bridge Project. Obviously the government’s coming back looking for another $15 million because of the increased costs on the second half of the project, the superstructure, as it’s called. I’d like to ask the Minister today why exactly the government, who is project manager now, is negotiating with one company. Why hasn’t this gone out to tender, given the cost of this superstructure? Why are we negotiating with one company?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has been pretty clear on his feelings on this project and he’s even taken a page out of what’s happened in the New Brunswick government not too long ago about the pants on the ground statement. I’m glad he didn’t try to sing it.
Mr. Speaker, it’s pretty obvious why we are negotiating with one company. We have very limited time to make this project work and if we had gone to a competitive process, of course, we would be adding to the construction period. We’d have to prepare the tender documents and all the related material that’s required to go to a public process, and that probably would have added another year to the construction period and also to the bottom line of what this bridge is going to cost. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the industry folks I’ve talked to say that it’s unprecedented in this country for a project of this size to be negotiated with one company. In fact, I know our time is limited but, Mr. Speaker, it would appear to me that the other thing that’s unlimited is our ability to spend money.
Mr. Speaker, I think we’ve spent enough on this project. I think the Minister and this government should duly and rightfully go to the marketplace and get the best price for the remainder of the work on the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I don’t care if it takes six months. I don’t care if it takes a year. If it’s $10 million or $12 million less than the price that they’re, so called, negotiating with this one company, I think the people of the Northwest Territories deserve better than just going to negotiate with one company, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, obviously, I disagree with the Member. I know he doesn’t care about how long it would take. We would have to translate that into what it would cost, added cost to what’s already built in to this supp that we have yet to bring forward. We would expect a good portion of what the $15 million ask is, is already interest and cost of delaying the project. We would have to add that amount to another year of delay and that would be quite significant, Mr. Speaker, over and above the $15 million. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, obviously the government hasn’t learned much. It negotiated a contract with ATCON, allowed the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation to negotiate a contract with ATCON, and we all know where that’s gotten us. I want to ask the Minister, who ultimately calls the shot on whether this project would go to tender and which project team is doing this. Is it the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation project management team or is it our project management team, Mr. Speaker? Because I’d like to know that.
Mr. Speaker, the project is being developed and moved forward under my watch. I assumed the responsibility for this file a year and a half ago. I take full responsibility for anything’s that’s transpired during that period. We are calling the shots. We’ve moved into a project management position. We have new people and a new team put in place. Also, we have negotiated a new contract along with a redesign. So, Mr. Speaker, we have turned that corner and we are anticipating some good results as we move forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I disagree with the Minister on this. I really think that, like I said, we owe it to the public, we owe it to the Members of this House. The project is in such a mess that I think we’ve got to look for a win where we can get it. I think we could have gotten a win, given the current economic climate in western Canada and getting other companies out there to bid on this project, so I disagree with the Minister on that.
I’d like to finally ask the Minister, what is he negotiating this contract with this one company on when, you know, I haven’t heard that the design work has concluded. So I’d like to know exactly what he’s negotiating and with what design. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. I apologize to the Member if he hadn’t heard that we have concluded the design. We’ve said it on a number of occasions and we’ll say it again: The superstructure has been concluded. There is still some electrical work and toll collection portion along with the catwalk that has to be finalized. We expect that will be another two weeks. There’s enough there to move forward for shop drawings and a negotiated contract with the company.
Mr. Speaker, I have to state that we’ve taken every avenue to make information public. The Member is quite aware that I have made every effort to ensure that Members had whatever documents I had to share so that they could be involved with this project. Mr. Speaker, I don’t pretend that the project has not had its share of problems.
When I assumed this department, this file a year and a half ago, I made a judgment that I needed to provide whatever support I could to make it work, and that’s what we’re doing now. There are still challenges, but we still feel this is a project that can be concluded in the next couple years. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
