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City councillors approved Wednesday a major boost in construction work over the next three years, using more than $600 million saved mainly by price drops caused by the worldwide recession.
The unexpected reduction in costs will allow the city to do extra road paving and neighbourhood renewal, build connections to the northwest Anthony Henday Drive, create parks, kick-start the Boyle Renaissance downtown redevelopment and expand work on Whitemud Drive.
City manager Al Maurer said the reduction in prices was more than the entire capital budget a few years ago, and even larger than the savings that happened when Alberta`s last big boom in the 1970s gave way to the downturn of the 1980s.
Construction prices that last fall were expected to rise by 13 per cent are now likely to go down by as much as 15 per cent.
Although some councillors were concerned their priorities weren`t reflected in the $5.6-billion plan released by the administration last week, Coun. Bryan Anderson said this was better than letting the politicians push for projects in their areas.
"When you have an economy that offers up the ability to do more work for less, I would rather have the administration weigh all the advantages and disadvantages and come up with a way to deal with this."
Councillors added $8.2 million to the budget to pave 34th Street from 23rd Avenue to Anthony Henday Drive, and also agreed to borrow $30 million to match similar contributions from the provincial and federal governments for LRT upgrades.
Read the full article here.
The unexpected reduction in costs will allow the city to do extra road paving and neighbourhood renewal, build connections to the northwest Anthony Henday Drive, create parks, kick-start the Boyle Renaissance downtown redevelopment and expand work on Whitemud Drive.
City manager Al Maurer said the reduction in prices was more than the entire capital budget a few years ago, and even larger than the savings that happened when Alberta`s last big boom in the 1970s gave way to the downturn of the 1980s.
Construction prices that last fall were expected to rise by 13 per cent are now likely to go down by as much as 15 per cent.
Although some councillors were concerned their priorities weren`t reflected in the $5.6-billion plan released by the administration last week, Coun. Bryan Anderson said this was better than letting the politicians push for projects in their areas.
"When you have an economy that offers up the ability to do more work for less, I would rather have the administration weigh all the advantages and disadvantages and come up with a way to deal with this."
Councillors added $8.2 million to the budget to pave 34th Street from 23rd Avenue to Anthony Henday Drive, and also agreed to borrow $30 million to match similar contributions from the provincial and federal governments for LRT upgrades.
Read the full article here.