The Plante administration has lost control of major projects whose costs have exploded, denounced Tuesday the opposition at City Hall, which accuses the elected officials of Projet Montréal of incompetence in management and lack of rigor.
According to the interim leader of the opposition, Aref Salem, the administration of Projet Montréal considers public money as a “bottomless pit”.
On Tuesday, Ensemble Montréal listed the major projects struggling with significant cost overruns.
Among them, the Center de transport Bellechasse at an estimated initial cost of $254 million. However, the bill for this infrastructure now exceeds 600 million.
The ozonation unit of the wastewater treatment plant is experiencing a $350 million cost overrun, noted Ensemble Montreal.
The bill for the restoration of the town hall now climbs to 182 million, or 66 million more than expected. Added to this are the organic matter treatment centers, with a cost overrun of 97.4 million, and the costs related to information technologies, which increased by 100 million.
“We find that there is a lack of accountability, transparency and rigor,” explained Aref Salem, who even goes so far as to tax the Plante administration with incompetence in the management of major projects.
According to Ensemble Montréal, the pandemic and inflation alone cannot explain these cost increases. The opposition believes that the Plante administration is accountable to citizens, especially since the bill risks being passed on to them through their tax notice. “We cannot continue to squander money as the administration does,” insists Aref Salem.
The president of the executive committee, Dominique Ollivier, believes that each project is unique. According to her, some of the increases are attributable to the increase in the cost of materials and the shortage of labour.
Other projects, such as the Center de transport Bellechasse, have come up against problems related to the nature of the excavated soil. “I think that there are things that are not predictable,” said Ms. Ollivier, while emphasizing that this project was the responsibility of the Société de transport de Montréal.
Further details will follow.