Calgary’s mayor is urging the province to retain the city’s private-sector contracts and salvage some of the work already completed on the multibillion-dollar project.
After a fierce war of words over the Green Line in recent days, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek appeared to extend an olive branch to Premier Danielle Smith on Thursday, urging her to preserve some of the work already completed on the project as the province gets set to review the proposed LRT’s alignment.
“I am certain we can agree to preserve elements of the existing work that allow for a carefully considered rail solution to be delivered in a manner that saves time and money,” Gondek wrote.
As an example, she suggests retaining the city’s existing contract with Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles to deliver 28 low-floor light-rail vehicles. She also suggests upholding the city’s existing contract for the design work on the segment of the line that stretches from 4th Street S.E. to Shepard.
“In the process of wind down on the Phase 1 Green Line LRT program, there are opportunities to create the most cost-effective solution for taxpayers as you focus on creating a new alignment,” Gondek wrote.
“Ultimately, it is in our collective best interest to save money for taxpayers in our city and province.”
Critical of a projected 40 per cent decrease in ridership that would result from the truncated alignment, Dreeshen stated the province would commission its own review of the project, with findings from a third-party engineering firm to be determined by the end of the year.
Gondek went on the offensive after Tuesday’s meeting, accusing the province of terminating the Green Line pulling the rug up from under the city at the last minute.
“I do not understand why a government that supported what we were saying on July 29 had a change of heart on Sept. 3,” she said. “I don’t know why they did this, but withdrawing the funding killed the project. There is no more Green Line as we know it.”
Smith responded by stating the province is simply trying to deliver what the city initially planned — a longer alignment that extends farther south and serves more riders.
“We need to rethink the way the Green Line is being built,” Smith said Wednesday. “We all agree there needs to be a station at the event centre, as well as going out to Lynwood. We just want it to go further.”