Parks Canada infrastructure worse than thought, report finds
Agency told it would need to almost triple spending to keep crumbling roads, bridges and buildings in good condition
“Conservatives don’t realize they have an environmental problem, whether it be parks or climate change. They do realize they have an environmental PR problem, so they’re making (those) kind of announcements.”
OTTAWA—Parks Canada would have to almost triple its spending on infrastructure upkeep to bring its crumbling assets into good repair, according to an internal report obtained by the Star.
The report indicates the agency would have to spend $351 million a year to keep its assets in “an appropriate state of repair” over the course of their serviceable life. To address work that has been identified as required, but put off, Parks Canada would need to spend $191 million per year over a 15-year period.
The agency has spent an average of $119 million a year over the last decade on repairs, and has complained of “chronic underfunding” that is putting some of Canada’s most iconic parks and historic sites at risk.
“Public health risk, the rate of asset deterioration, and the cost to repair or rehabilitate assets increases significantly when deferred work remains unresolved,” reads the report, prepared for Parks Canada by Opus International Consultants.
The report, obtained under access to information laws, was commissioned to check the accuracy Parks Canada’s 2012 National Asset Review.
A Star analysis of that review revealed a total of $2.77 billion in deferred work, with the “current replacement value” of all Parks Canada assets reaching $15.2 billion.
The consultants found those numbers to be accurate. Opus estimated deferred work to be in the range of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion, will the replacement value between $15 billion to $16.5 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment