(file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Costly Endeavor

Design costs for new P.A. airport terminal increases by around $854K

May 16, 2023 | 1:00 PM

Costs to design Prince Albert’s new terminal building for the airport are skyrocketing.

The city’s council met on Monday where they approved an increase of around $854,000.

This brings the total cost of the project to date to just under $1.49 million. Around 30 per cent of the terminal still needs to be designed, however, council has put that on hold until the airport advisory committee has had time to review the design proposal.

Councillor Don Cody, who also sits on the Airport Advisory Committee, told paNOW they were told that the main reason for the increase was inflation.

“The costs have gone up (for projects), that’s for sure, but it shouldn’t have been that amount of money,” he said.

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He also called the new price “astronomical.”

Cody also believes the federal government should be helping with the increased costs. Originally, the city was told that NAV Canada wanted to be included in the new building, but eventually changed their mind. This also came after the architect had already incorporated them into the design.

“Now they’ve come along and say ‘we don’t need your place, we’re doing something different’ and that’s fine, but the architects did a lot of work to get that additional space… I think we should be helped out,” he said.

Meanwhile, taxpayers don’t have to worry about paying for these added costs.

The city plans on getting the roughly $854,000 from the Passenger Facility Fee Reserve which, at the end of 2022, had nearly $2.2 million.

This reserve, paid for by airport passengers, was originally created to cover the costs of the design and construction of the terminal.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow