(Quebec) The opposition may speak of the third link as a “phantom project”, the tenors of the government reaffirmed Tuesday their intention to go ahead at all costs with this twin-tube project between Quebec and Lévis.
“I am still determined to make a 3rd link,” assured the Prime Minister, François Legault, when questioned by journalists in the Parliament of Quebec.
“First, my responsibility as a manager of public funds is to make sure that we look at all the up-to-date studies, among other things, of the impacts of telework on… Not just the impacts of telework during the pandemic, but after the pandemic on traffic,” added Mr. Legault, who promises an update “in the coming weeks.”
Around the same time, at the Center des Congrès de Québec, a stone’s throw from parliament, the Minister of Transport promised to unveil this famous update “before the summer for sure”, probably in April.
“All available data will be presented transparently in the next announcement,” promised Geneviève Guilbault.
However, the latter cannot guarantee that the government will announce the estimated cost of the project at the same time. “As for the cost, there is always the notion of not influencing tenders. At the last announcement, we had spoken of 6.5 billion. When you give prices before launching the call for tenders, sometimes that can have an impact. “, argued Minister Guilbault.
The CAQ’s first announcement in this case, which occurred in May 2021, proposed a huge 3.3 km tunnel that would be close to 10 billion dollars. A year later, in the spring of 2022, the Legault government presented a twin-tube project at 6.5 billion.
The statements come as the government on Tuesday announced “historic” investments in roads. The Ministry of Transport plans to inject $7.4 billion into the road, maritime, rail and airport transport networks over the next two years.
Further details will follow.