SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan government says partnering with private businesses to build a package of new schools is saving $100 million.
SaskBuilds Minister Gordon Wyant unveiled the price tag Tuesday, with a total cost of $635 million for the nine joint-use facilities set to open for the 2017-18 school year.
“These schools will stay in better condition, be finished faster, and cost millions less than if the government did this project without a public-private partnership,” Wyant said.
READ MORE: Builders chosen for new P3 schools in Sask.
Long critical of public-private partnerships (P3s), deputy NDP leader Trent Wotherspoon says he doesn’t trust the books – and wants them verified by a third party.
“This government won’t expose its numbers to some sunlight,” Wotherspoon said. “That’s unfortunate, because Saskatchewan people deserve to know what they’re being signed on to.”
Cost comparisons
Wotherspoon points to joint-use schools built through traditional methods, saying it’s cheaper than the P3 plan.
Holy Family and Willowgrove schools opened this year in Saskatoon at a cost of $38 million; in 2014, École Centennial & All Saints opened in Swift Current, totaling $51 million. The new P3 package averages $70.6 million per school.
But the Sask. Party government stresses the contractor must take care of the buildings over the next 30 years, saying construction alone on the schools is just $41.5 million.
“(In the past) we’ve never estimated, in terms of traditional builds, what the long-term maintenance and rehabilitation will be,” Wyant said. “That’s the difference between a P3 and traditional build.”
Still unclear is what’s calculated as risk transfer to build at these nine locations in Regina, Saskatoon, Warman and Martensville.
Value for money
Critics have called P3 risk calculations overinflated, with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) suggesting governments across the country won’t release their assessments.
“Finding an actual unredacted risk assessment in practice is akin to finding Bigfoot,” said Simon Enoch, the CCPA’s Saskatchewan director.
The picture may not be clear until December when the government releases a “value for money” audit, proving we got the best bang for our buck.
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