François Legault does not rule out increasing his government’s funding to make the Eastern REM project more “acceptable”, acknowledging that adjustments will have to be made. He wants a “common project” with the Plante administration and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
“At this point, we are not ruling anything out. We are talking about a cost of around ten billion. If ever we had to bury everything, it would be 20 billion and that would not be acceptable. But are we able to find compromises? Both of us agree that there are ends of the route that can remain high, ”explained Mr. Legault during a press conference on Monday, alongside Mayor Valérie Plante, who ‘he would meet during the day.
For the head of the CAQ, the main thing in this file will be to “work on a project that suits the government, and the City, and the Caisse de dépôt”.
Much more must be done to make the Eastern REM more acceptable. There are adjustments to be made, the committee chaired by Maud Cohen will make proposals. But what I want is that the next time we present the project, it is a common project, three.
François Legault, Premier of Quebec
Mme Plante said she was “very happy” to hear the Prime Minister “reiterate the importance of the three teams working together”. “The Eastern REM is a big deal for Montreal. It is a project that we hold dear. It’s an incredible development tool for the territory, so it’s really important to put all the energy possible into it, ”she implored.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Valérie Plante and François Legault
The aerial route chosen for most of the eastern REM continues to raise waves. About a hundred citizens demonstrated against the tall structures on Saturday. “I heard you and I understand that there are improvements to be made. This project must be changed, ”François Legault replied directly to them on Monday. These citizens fear the visual impacts as well as the noise that will be generated by the passage of trains every two minutes.
Citizens have also submitted a petition to the National Assembly to oppose the project in its current form. Elsewhere in the world, the construction of urban elevated transport networks has caused much debate in recent years. In France, for example, the authorities have decided to bury 90% of the Grand Paris Express, a megaproject that provides 200 kilometers of metro between the suburbs of the capital. One of the site managers indicated that the erection of aerial sections in residential areas was “no longer in tune with the times” and “would no longer take place today”. In Copenhagen, Denmark, the authorities have chosen to mostly bury the most recent extensions of the metro.
SRB and blue line
The two politicians had made an appointment in an STM bus to take the route of the future Pie-IX Bus Rapid Service (SRB), which is to be gradually put into service from the end of 2022. The Minister for Transport , Chantal Rouleau, maintained that this project is “an example of what we are able to do” in public transport, while respecting “budgets and deadlines”.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
François Legault, Valérie Plante and Chantal Rouleau
While Quebec had part in April of its impatience in the face of an “unacceptable” increase in costs related to the extension of the blue line, François Legault reiterated Monday that the important thing is first to “meet the needs”.
“We will look at needs and costs, taking into account the inflation that we are experiencing in the construction industry. I want us to be able to announce a new project cost together, ”he said on this subject, saying he wanted to“ minimize ”cost overruns as much as possible.
But all the points of view do not converge. In interview with Press last week, the general manager of the STM, Luc Tremblay, however affirmed that one cannot speak of cost overruns. “Rather, these are costs that have been forgotten. From the start, taxes were lacking, land was lacking; this is what drove the bill from 3.9 to 4.5 billion, ”he said.
With Maxime Bergeron, Press