While the parliamentary budget officer is warning that up to $380 million of the federal government's $4-billion infrastructure stimulus budget won't make into the projects it has been earmarked for, it seems projects on the Sunshine Coast are all safe.
The government's economic action plan was designed to create work on infrastructure in communities, but for most projects, the money was conditional on the projects being completed by March 31, 2011.
Staff from the District of Sechelt, Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) and two local harbour authorities, which received the bulk of the Coast's 18 approved projects, say most are already complete or are scheduled to be complete before next spring's deadline.
Just over $2 million was granted for projects in Sechelt, which included partial funding for improvements to East Porpoise Bay Road, a sewer trunk line extension for West Sechelt, upgrades to the Hackett Park tennis courts and a biosolids treatment facility. Of those, the road and tennis court improvements are complete, and sewer and treatment facilities phases are scheduled to be done early next year, according to Andrea DeBucy, the District's chief financial officer.
The SCRD received just under $3 million for improvements at the Sechelt and Pender Harbour aquatic facilities as well as improvements to the Granthams Landing water supply and a new water treatment plant for South Pender Harbour. According to SCRD treasurer Joan Merrick, upgrades for the two pool facilities are nearly complete, and water treatment upgrades will be done before the deadline.
The Gibsons Landing Harbour Authority applied for and received two grants totalling just over $1.4 million for wharf and breakwater repairs, which harbour master Bill Oakford said are nearly done.
The Harbour Authority of Pender Harbour (HAPH) received $322,000 to do electrical upgrades at its three docks and extend the Hospital Bay dock to allow more transient moorage. HAPH chair Frank Morrow said those projects are also now complete.
Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country John Weston said he was glad to see that projects on the Sunshine Coast will be meeting the deadline and credits the careful planning of local governments and harbour authorities in setting priorities.
"You had to make sure that your ducks were in order, that you could line up contractors, get people employed, get people working to meet the deadlines the federal government set. And in most cases in our riding, I think it's going to happen," Weston said. "The fact that there were deadlines forced my counterparts at the local level and our provincial counterparts to look closely at what could be done, set priorities, advocate for those priorities and get the money."
As for projects in other communities that may find their funding revoked next March, Weston said there are some cases of local governments biting off more than they could chew and that the stimulus was never designed to be a long-term program.
