CALGARY- The city has been forced to nearly double its original estimate of the cost of repairs and mitigation due to the June flood—and the price tag now stands at $900 million.
Efforts are focused on areas around the Calgary Zoo, which was devastated by the rising waters. $11 million was budgeted to build a berm near it, but officials now say they need another $14 million to protect the animals and infrastructure.
“Certainly you have to build a wall to protect it from the river water, but you also have to protect it from water coming up from the ground and that includes a very extensive network of pumps to keep the ground water out,” explains Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Even with that, it’s far, far cheaper than moving the zoo.”
The city is also on the hook for a $12 million bill to move the arrest processing unit (APU) from downtown to the Remand Centre in north Calgary. Nenshi says that so far, the province hasn’t stepped in to help.
“It has been challenging to get province on board, and quite frankly they should be paying for the whole thing. Flood or no flood, they caused this by not allowing the APU to move into a place built for it in the courthouse, and I don’t see how city taxpayers would have to pay one penny for all this.”
Most of the city’s money will help repair parks along the rivers. On Tuesday, a city committee approved $1.2 million towards design work needed for flood mitigation at the zoo, and are waiting on a priority list before making a decision on the $900 million .
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