Caisse chief pledges ‘complete and public’ disclosure of all REM cost overruns
Work on the Montreal-area light-rail project, expected to cost about $6.3 billion, was halted for six weeks last spring as the pandemic escalated and the Quebec government put the economy on pause.
Montreal Gazette | Frédéric Tomesco | Feb 25, 2021
Construction of the REM along Highway 40 at Sources Blvd. in Dollard-des-Ormeaux Sept. 24, 2020. PHOTO BY DAVE SIDAWAY /Montreal Gazette
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec chief executive Charles Emond is pledging “complete and public” disclosure this spring of all cost overruns and likely delays associated with construction of the Réseau Express Métropolitain.
“There will be an update that we’re working on, probably in a few weeks,” Emond told reporters in Montreal Thursday.
“We are going to give details of the cost overruns that will be linked to the particular context that we’re going through. For now we’re still compiling this. There are several stakeholders involved.”
Emond cited COVID-19-related construction delays, as well as “unforeseen” challenges in the Mount Royal tunnel and the instability of the leg beneath McGill College Ave. He did not provide dollar amounts.
CDPQ Infra, the Caisse unit that will operate the REM, said in November that leftover explosive material from the century-old Mount Royal tunnel’s original construction detonated in July. No workers were injured by the explosion, which along with the pandemic, has meant that construction of the tunnel portion of the project will be delayed by up to 18 months.
Work on the Montreal-area light-rail project — which was initially expected to cost about $6.3 billion — was halted for six weeks last March and April as the pandemic escalated and the Quebec government put the economy on pause.
Together with independent experts, CDPQ Infra studied several possible scenarios for building an underground line along René-Lévesque Blvd. as part of a proposed $10 billion REM connection to Montreal’s east end. All underground options were rejected, leaving CDPQ Infra to favour building an elevated structure, Emond said.
“It’s not like we had a bias in favour of the elevated structure to begin with,” Emond said. “We looked at one aerial option, and up to six scenarios for underground construction. None of those scenarios was deemed to be achievable. It’s not just CDPQ Infra or the Caisse that’s saying this, but the independent external experts that we consulted. Nobody recommended any of the underground insertion scenarios.”
Concerned that concrete elevated rails could be an eyesore, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has been urging CDPQ Infra to consider burying part of its proposed REM de l’Est. CDPQ Infra will have to prove that the rails can blend into the urban landscape, Plante said in January.