The enormous amount of road construction that has made it very difficult for Montrealers to get around in recent years is not about to slow down.
From the ongoing road work on Ste-Catherine Street, to new projects aiming to upgrade water purification facilities in the West Island and plans to revitalize large city parks — there will be no shortage of construction during the next three years.
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Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante released her $6.383 billion capital works budget for 2018-2020.
It’s slightly less than the previous budget, but an enormous amount of spending is being done to improve water and road networks.
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The budget works out to slightly more than $2.1 billion per year.
This year alone, Montreal plans to spend $692 million on roads, sidewalks, bridges, tunnels, traffic lights, bus lanes, bike lanes and other projects related to the city’s road network.
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Of that, $555 million is focused on maintaining the city’s road network. Another $136 million is planned for the development of new road projects in 2018.
The City of Montreal is responsible for 66 per cent of the capital works budget over the next three years, while the remaining 34 per cent will be covered by the agglomeration which includes both the city and the suburban municipalities.
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The source of the funding of the $6.383 Billion is coming from property taxes, water taxes, loans and grants or subsidies from the federal and provincial governments.
The opposition was quick to find fault with the budget, calling it incoherent.
City councillors Lionel Perez and Alan DeSousa were quick to point out that while water taxes have gone up, water infrastructure spending is less than the previous year.
Perez also complained that there was no mention of the pink metro line over the next three years, despite Plante’s campaign promises.
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