CTV Regina reports, “The City of Regina is considering entering a public-private partnership to fund upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant. …Under the proposed 30-year agreement, a private firm would design, build, finance, operate and maintain the plant.”
The article adds that under the plan, “The city would borrow $118 million through the private sector, while the federal government would be asked to contribute $50 million (from the P3 Canada fund). Another $40 million is earmarked in the city’s five-year capital plan. …(Regina Mayor Michael) Fougere says the aging plant must be upgraded to meet stringent new provincial and federal regulations. Construction is slated to begin in 2014 and is expected to wrap up by the end of 2016.”
“If the executive committee votes in favour of the proposed funding model at its meeting next Wednesday (February 13), it will be brought to city council for approval on Feb. 25.”
The Regina Leader-Post adds, “Though a private company will run and maintain the plant, Fougere said city employees would be ‘protected’.” Metro Regina notes, “Through the P3 model, the city will remain owners and controllers of the facility.”
The Council of Canadians has highlighted the privatization threat of the Harper government’s new regulations for wastewater, more on that in this April 2012 campaign blog at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14593. We have also critiqued the Harper government’s P3 Canada Fund, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=17240. In November 2011, Abbotsford-Mission Water Watch, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and the Council of Canadians helped to defeat a public-private partnership (P3) proposal in Abbotsford, British Columbia, http://canadians.org/blog/?p=12063.
More to come.
