Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got a few questions today for the Minister of Transportation. It gets back to his statement earlier and my statement earlier about the Deh Cho Bridge Project.
I want to start off by thanking the Minister. Concerns were raised in this House a year ago in regard to some deficiencies with the project and the quality assurance on the project. I’d like to thank the Minister for directing the department to conduct the Levelton Report, as it’s called, and come up with the 14 recommendations contained in that report. I know that work is proceeding to address those concerns and, again, I want to thank the Minister for that.
The question that I want to ask the Minister is we had no bond in place with ATCON. We had a $13 million guarantee with the Bank of Nova Scotia. That’s been made good by the Province of New Brunswick. I just want to ask the Minister what analysis is the Minister and his department basing their estimates on, on getting the deficiencies addressed that would fit within that $13 million range. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member for thanking me. I think this is the first time he’s ever thanked me for anything I’ve done on this project.
Mr. Speaker, we’ve had a guarantee on this project all along on the work that was to be done. I think we have better than what would be in the bond at this point. We have cash in the bank. We have done an analysis. We have had our contractors look at what needs to be rectified. In most cases, Mr. Speaker, it’s a matter of going in and doing the actual testing, as we haven’t had all the documentation that we require. But to go in and do the testing on something that’s under water and is covered with rock at this point is just about as expensive as fixing the situation.
Mr. Speaker, we have some very good estimates. Of course, at this point, they’re still estimates. We feel that the cost of doing the work that was outlined in the Levelton Report will be anywhere from $4 million to $7 million, Mr. Speaker. That’s not even half of the money that we have as holdback for this project as we go forward. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, last year, as well, given what happened with ATCON, I had asked some questions about Ruskin and the Minister had confirmed that Ruskin had a 50 percent performance bond in place for the remainder of the work. I’d like to ask the Minister who holds that 50 percent performance bond that Ruskin has. Thank you.
I’m not sure as to who actually holds it. I would have to go and find that out. I will commit to finding that out and providing the information to the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the Minister’s statement earlier today, he had advised the House that Ruskin was going to come up with a revised construction schedule sometime by the end of February and, as I mentioned in my statement, time is money. If this project gets delayed, it will undoubtedly cost more. I am just wondering why it is that Regular Members have not seen the contract between Ruskin and the Government of the Northwest Territories for the remainder of the work on the Deh Cho Bridge Project so that we can better understand what our liabilities are and what would be eligible cost overruns, should the project be delayed much further. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe the Member has seen any contract from any projects we have across the government. It is not a practice that we provide the information to Regular Members on. We would need the consent of the contractors and, in most situations, the contractors would not agree to it, so that is why we haven’t provided it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am handing out thank yous here, but I will thank the Minister for providing the Concession Agreement to committee some time ago. It was an embargoed copy, that Concession Agreement, that we could have a look at in the committee room. We couldn’t make copies of it and hand it out, but we at least got a copy of it. If the department would let us have a look at the contract so that we can have a lawyer have a look at it and make our own judgments on what eligible cost overruns and delays in this project will mean to the overall cost of this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, more thank yous. Since assuming responsibility for this project, I made every effort to provide information to all Members and to the public. We have tried to make all documents available. We have provided regular updates to the MLAs. We have set up media briefings. We have had technical briefings. We have set up a website that has a camera that shows progress of the construction. We have now formed mail-out newsletters to the general public. We provided access to the Levelton Report, something that normally would not be done for any project, under any circumstance. We have had a review by the Auditor General, Mr. Speaker. It is our job as a department to ensure that due diligence is done on any contract we sign. At this point, we are not prepared to release the contract. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
