Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. During our last session on February 19th, 2016, I asked the Minister of DOT questions on the Building Canada Plan and the second bundle that was supposed to be rolled out. I'd like to ask the Minister if the Financial Management Board has approved the second bundle for the Building Canada Plan. Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bundle number two the Member is referring to has gone through the process in the government system. We are waiting for approval from the federal government on bundle number two and we're hoping to hear by late June. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my next question was to ask if the federal government had approved it yet, obviously, they haven't. If the Minister is anticipating that the federal government will do approval soon then there was a plan in February to bring a supplementary appropriation forward during the session. Is the Minister still on target to do that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are in plan to bring that forward through the process.
Mr. Speaker, a big part of bundle number two is to replace some bridges that need replacing; however, my understanding is that those bridges may not be replaced but rather may be retrofitted. I'm wondering if the Minister could give me some indication on which direction the department will be taking with this. Is it going to be a renovation or a replacement of the three bridges?
The Member is correct. The department carried out and had a consultant have an engineering evaluation done on all the bridges. Through that evaluation process, the consultants provided various options for the cycle, the cost analysis on the replacement or rehabilitation of these bridges. The department has decided to go with the rehabilitation option on these bridges and we will be commencing work on them shortly on that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering the federal government has yet to approve bundle number two, then the opportunity is still there for the Minister to look at actually replacing the bridges. These are very old bridges that have been in place obviously since the highway was built between Hay River and Pine Point; those two bridges were put in. Those are the two bridges I'm most keenly interested in. Will the Minister consider taking another look at it to replace the bridges, looking maybe at the length of time which a new bridge will be in place and usable as opposed to a rehabilitation of the current bridge? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I said, we took a look at this and we're moving ahead with the rehabilitation process. As far as the funding for the Buffalo River Bridge, that's already been approved by Infrastructure Canada and work planning is already currently underway to proceed with that project. A number of things that we are going to be doing under the rehabilitation process is the truss strengthening, replacement to the half of the deck on some of these bridges, and pier repair and painting as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
