Motorists who rail against the proliferation of orange cones in the streets are no doubt right to complain about the poor coordination of the work: the Auditor General (AG) of the City of Montreal, Michèle Galipeau, comes to the same conclusion in her most recent report, which denounces the fact that the municipal authorities do not have an overview of the construction sites that may have an impact on automobile traffic.
Posted at 9:52 p.m.
“The current work does not identify all the projects that will be carried out both on the street and off the street and which have an impact on the public highway”, writes the auditor general in her report tabled Monday at the municipal council.
This incomplete vision of the projects does not ensure optimal planning and coordination of work on the road network before they are carried out, which can have negative impacts on the mobility of users.
Michèle Galipeau, Auditor General of the City of Montreal, in her most recent report
From the outset, the VG itself remarks that, for several years, the City of Montreal “has been recognized for the multitude of construction sites that are carried out on the municipal road network as well as the countless detours that they cause”.
Of course, these many works are necessary in order to repair, optimize or modernize the infrastructures, she continues.
She notes that the City’s work accounts for 30% of all construction sites in the territory, while the majority of the work is carried out by the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ), urban technical network companies such as Hydro-Québec, Energir and Bell as well as private contractors.
It is therefore necessary for municipal officials to have information on the sites of all these stakeholders.
However, the AG concludes “that the approach deployed by the City, namely through the implementation of project planning and coordination processes, is not fully effective in enabling it to proactively have an overview of the work sites that may impact its road network and to minimize the impact on users”.
Support for SMEs and urban forest
The AG addressed other topics in its 2021 report, including the Emergency Assistance Program for Small and Medium Enterprises (PAUPME) and the tree policy.
PAUPME is the program set up by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI) to support businesses affected by the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In investigating the matter, the AG found that “19% of the files reviewed that were granted a loan did not meet at least one program eligibility criteria established by the MEI”.
“In addition, the comments justifying the financial analysis are of variable geometry and do not always make it possible to properly capture the risk of the company and to support the granting of the loan”, can we read in the report.
If such a program were to be implemented in the future, the City should “implement more rigorous controls to ensure sound management,” concludes the VG.
On the tree policy, the VG is of the opinion that “the portrait of the city’s urban forest is neither complete nor centralized. In the absence of established standards, maintenance practices are disparate and incomplete for activities essential to the maintenance and development of trees”.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The auditor general of Montreal is of the opinion that “the portrait of the city’s urban forest is neither complete nor centralized.
She notes in particular that, between 2012-2020, nearly 100,000 trees were planted, but that due to the felling of ash trees and trees of all other species, the net growth of the urban forest amounts to only 30,146 public trees.
She deplores the fact that the inventory of public trees is incomplete and their condition unknown, and that dead trees and the cause of their mortality are neither documented nor monitored.