The Plante administration is fulfilling one of its promises by spending a lot more money to fix up and maintain its roads and water mains over the next three years - 65% of the capital works budget is going towards these areas.
Out of the $6.3B, around $4.1B is being invested in roads and watermains, to be split roughly in half for each sector.
The last capital works budget was pegged at around $4.5B.
City of #Montréal will be spending $6.3B between 2018-2020 on fixing up city infrastructure, 65% of it (around $4.1B) on roads and water mains, about half-half. So spending lots more than last infrastructure budget that was pegged at around $4.5B. #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/Fc5hssNM0p
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) January 31, 2018
The city's budget called for an increase to the water tax which had been frozen for a couple of years - that will be dedicated to water mains rather than borrowing the money.
Some of the big ticket items:
- $168M to fix up Parc Jean-Drapeau and the Gilles Villeneuve racetrack;
- $95M for the Ste Catherine St.revamp;
- $90M to upgrade street lighting;
- $61M to spruce up St. Hubert St.;
- $59M to fix up parks.
The Cavendish extension project is still on the books - $13M set aside for next year to start plans with work scheduled to begin in 2021 and end in 2024.
$13M has been set aside for the long-awaited, much-talked about Cavendish extension but that's only for the planning phase to start next year. Actual work slated to begin in 2021, end in 2024. #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/xln4ob9gs9
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) January 31, 2018
Boroughs are getting an extra 20% boost compared to the last capital works budget. While most boroughs will see the status quo, a few are getting a little more than others:
- Plateau Mont-Royal: nearly $37M, increase of about $23M from the last capital works budget - most of the money going towards parks;
- Ville Marie: nearly $149M, up from $84.7M -most going to parks and fixing up the area around the Jacques-Cartier Bridge
- Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve: $33.3M, up from around $29.7M, mostly for a new community centre.
Boroughs such as Pierrefonds-Roxboro and Verdun are getting a little less and they will also be investing more in their parks.
Some of the biggest bucks are going towards major projects such as the Ste Catherine St. and St. Hubert revamps ($95M/$61M) fixing up Parc Jean-Drapeau and Gilles Villeneuve racetrack ($168M), upgrading street lighting ($90M), sprucing up parks ($59M). #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/5FE8UABCYD
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) January 31, 2018