Report on plans for Phase 2 of LRT pushed back
Expected to have been made public Monday evening, report now not expected until Feb. 17
A report on the plans for the second phase of LRT scheduled to be made public Monday will be delayed by almost two weeks.
City council's finance and economic development committee was to meet on Feb. 13, meaning that the agenda, and its related reports, would be posted to the city's website one week earlier, as per provincial rules.
However, on Friday, city officials confirmed the meeting would be pushed back to Feb. 24, which means the report on Phase 2 of LRT won't be made public until Feb. 17.
The report is expected to be quite hefty, outlining the procurement procedure for the $3-billion project — which will have to be approved shortly by full council — and will contain details on how the financing, tendering and contracting will work.
Bidding process on agenda
One of the key factors to be discussed is how the bidding process can be formulated to get the best deal for taxpayers without unfairly favouring the consortium currently building Confederation Line, the Rideau Transit Group, or its member corporations.
Mayor Jim Watson chairs the finance committee, and officially he is the one to decide whether a committee can be moved.
According to an email from his spokesperson, Livia Belcea, the meeting is being delayed to account for proposed changes to the provincial gas tax revenues announced recently by the Liberal government.
Late last month, the province promised eventually to double the amount of gas tax revenues given to cities, from 2 to 4 cents per litre of gas sold.
But the increase won't begin to take effect until 2019, after the next provincial election.
Still, the finance committee report includes a long-range financial plan that "considers the entire transit picture from now until 2048, not only Stage 2 LRT," wrote Belcea.
She added that city staff "wanted some more time to do additional due diligence" on the transit affordability plan in light of the province's announcement.
The finance committee has not met since Dec. 6.
