Prime Minister François Legault considers that the estimated costs for the construction of a light rail metro in the East of Montreal are unrealistic.
Mr. Legault said on Wednesday that the government had never asked the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) to assess the feasibility of infrastructure entirely underground, a project that succeeds the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) piloted first by the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec.
“It’s not realistic 36 billion, so I think there is something missing somewhere,” he lamented after inaugurating a beach on the banks of the river in Quebec.
Mr. Legault did not comment on the costs provisioned for the estimate, which include the risks of earthquakes, pandemics or overheating in real estate.
“I was very surprised by the 36 billion, I kind of swallowed my sip of coffee badly when I read that, he said. We will examine the costs. This is not what we asked the committee to do. We had asked for a small part to be underground. We didn’t ask the ARTM for it to be completely underground. »
Revealing the planned costs of 36 billion on Tuesday, the project director of the Eastern Structuring Project, Marc Dionne, said on Tuesday that there was no other choice but to bury the 34 km route, “if the air route does not respect the constraints of urban integration”.
On Wednesday, Mr. Legault did not comment on the proportion that should be underground.
“Quebecers do not have the capacity to pay for a 36 billion project,” he said.
More details will follow.