A federal-provincial grant could provide up to $11 million toward the new pump house on the river. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Finding funding

City seeks help to fund estimated $15 million project

Feb 25, 2020 | 2:09 PM

Prince Albert may get some help from the federal and provincial governments on an expensive new project at the water treatment plant.

The new raw water pump house has been a source of distress for councillors since November when they learned the estimated cost had ballooned to over double what was initially estimated.

On Monday night, council decided to apply for a federal-provincial grant that could cover up 73.33 per cent of the project’s cost.

The application will be made based on the most recent $15 million estimated price, which city adminstration told council includes all taxes and contingencies.

“We have one shot to put the application forward to the federal and provincial government,” Capital Projects Manager Nykol Miller said. “We want to ensure that we have enough funding so it will cover the full cost.”

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Mayor Greg Dionne speaks during Monday night’s council meeting (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Speaking to paNOW, Mayor Greg Dionne said he’s relieved a large chunk of the project could be covered, but won’t celebrate until they get approved.

“Once it’s approved, yes, I’ll be happy dancing because there again we saved the citizens lots of money,” he said.

Dionne also explained councillors will change the way they approve major projects to avoid any nasty shocks like they had with the estimated price of the raw water pump house.

“In the future, before the price comes to council, we’ll send it out, get the three tenders,” he said. “And then it will come to council say ‘Hey this is exactly what it’s going to cost, do you want to do the project or not?'”

Grant recipients will be announced at the end of summer.

The start date has been pushed from spring to fall.

The project needs to go ahead regardless of whether the grant is approved, as the existing pump house from the 1920s should be replaced immanently.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom