Montreal is pressing ahead with the construction of its new 911 center, a project worth nearly 150 million.
The city has rejected its own recommendation and imposed a tight deadline on construction companies to get the new facility off the ground.
Objective: “respond to the evolution of the plant’s emergency systems, [remplacer le] current outdated system and meet regulatory requirements,” Montreal says in its official documentation.
Montreal published a call for tenders on June 17 to find the company that will build the building, it was noted. The PressThe initial one-month response deadline was eventually extended until mid-August.
“The work is scheduled to begin on the 3rde quarter of 2024,” the tender documents specify. They “must be completed within 910 calendar days.”
The preparatory stages began a long time ago.
Last winter, a borough council overturned the decision of its own demolition committee, which had refused to authorize the destruction of the building that currently occupies the land in question. This vacant building dating from 1965 was to give way to the future 911 center, Montreal argued.
“The selected site is not the appropriate location for the project […] in addition to including the demolition of a building with significant architectural value,” the demolition committee, made up of elected officials and experts, had ruled. “Refusing to demolish would result in a failure to meet the schedule for the establishment of a strategic service,” the borough council replied, reversing its decision. A very rare event.
1.4 million calls per year
The Plante administration declined to comment on the matter.
“This project will make it possible to respond to the evolution of the plant’s emergency systems as well as to public safety regulatory requirements, in addition to helping to provide a rapid local response to emergency calls throughout the territory,” said the city’s public relations officer Hugo Bourgoin.
The move of Montreal’s 911 center coincides with the arrival of “next generation” 911, which will allow citizens to communicate by text message with emergency services.
Eventually, it will even be possible to send video or images of an event. “This will enable safer and faster emergency responses based on better information,” says the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is responsible for the project, on its website.
“On average, 911 emergency call agents handle 1.4 million calls per year, of which approximately 430,000 are intended for SPVM officers,” indicates the Montreal Police Department.