The Montreal Port Authority (MPA) can afford to wait “a few weeks” before obtaining the additional financial assistance it is requesting from Ottawa to complete the financial package for the Port of Contrecoeur project, but the process will not be able to stretch even longer, warns the president and general manager of the APM, Martin Imbleau.
Cost estimates for the Contrecoeur project are higher than initially expected in 2019. The MPA attributes this adjustment to inflation, which inflates the potential bill for the project compared to the scenario established before the pandemic.
The MPA has already obtained additional aid of $75 million from the Government of Quebec, but the federal government has still not confirmed that it will inject more funds than the $300 million already promised by the Bank of Canada’s infrastructure.
Mr. Imbleau met with federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to plead his case on Tuesday. “What I had the opportunity to say, which was confirmed to me in my conversation with the minister, is that the federal contribution and participation were a matter of weeks and not months,” he says. -he in an interview on the sidelines of the APM’s annual meeting. We can do with that timeline. It is still urgent and that is the message I have communicated. »
The big boss of the APM does not want to claim victory, but he says he is confident of getting additional help. “It would be a strange signal not to have the support of the federal government on a federal infrastructure project with a national interest. »
The project whose cost was to reach a maximum of 950 million dollars could cost 1.4 billion, according to two sources cited by the Globe and Mail. A source who could not be identified also confirmed this figure to The Canadian Press.
Mr. Imbleau declined to comment on this “sensitive” information. “What I can confirm is that these are significant cost increases. »
Minister Alghabra said he was aware of the urgency of the situation during a press scrum in Ottawa on Wednesday. “It’s a lot of money, as you know, and the Government of Canada has procedures that sometimes take longer than we would like, but we are continuing the process. I made the commitment to the CEO [Martin Imbleau] that we would work to provide him with an answer quickly. »
During the meeting, Mr. Imbleau said that the project, which should come into service in 2027, was necessary as the Port of Montreal approaches its full capacity. “The Contrecoeur terminal will ease the pressure on Montreal. »
Without the new project, the supply chain would become “more vulnerable” in Montreal. “And everyone would pay the price,” he said.
Even if the disruptions in the supply chain have dissipated, Quebec should not believe itself immune, adds the leader in an interview. “If we were to go back into a pandemic today, or another health crisis or another major logistical crisis, we would probably find ourselves in the same levels of congestion. »
Major supply chain players around the world have not invested enough in the supply chain, he laments. “We still have the same transshipment center deficiencies, labor issues, under-efficiency in digital matters, we haven’t done this transformation yet. »