THE RIGHT CHOICES Investing in Infrastructure
Mr. Speaker, throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, existing
infrastructure, including roads and public buildings, has been
left to deteriorate for decades. Sadly, even though it is
critical to maintain and enhance vital infrastructure to
preserve its value and promote economic expansion, Newfoundland
and Labrador has for too long been without a plan to identify
the needs and find ways and means to address them responsibly.
Our government has therefore developed a comprehensive
Infrastructure Strategy which evaluates the needs and sets out
to address them on a priority basis progressively over time. We
are making an investment in excess of $300 million this year in
infrastructure, the first installment of a planned expenditure
to exceed $2 billion over the next six years.
This year, we will move forward with a road construction
program worth $142.2 million. Included will be a $60 million
Provincial Roads Improvement Program, $29.7 million in
cost-shared improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway, $25.5
million for Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway, and
cost-shared funding to extend the Team Gushue Highway and begin
the Torbay Bypass Road. We are also committing our share of
Phase I of the plan to place a hard top on the Trans-Labrador
Highway. Further highways investments this year include salt
management, brush cutting, line painting and $10 million to
renew our heavy equipment fleet as part of a multi-year strategy
to enhance both summer and winter maintenance capacity. To
address concerns about highway safety and potential damage to
our highway infrastructure, we will be strategically
reactivating weigh scales at Port aux Basques and Foxtrap.
We are committing $9 million this year to refit ferry vessels,
another $6.1 million to maintain wharves and terminals, and $1.5
million to initiate design work for the construction of two
ferry vessels right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Our province�s municipalities also recognize the
importance of investing in public infrastructure to promote
growth. To work cooperatively with our municipalities, we will
invest $22.5 million this year in the municipal capital works
program to help municipalities develop priority infrastructure
such as roads, water and sewer, and municipal buildings. We will
leverage federal funding for municipalities under the Canada
Newfoundland and Labrador Infrastructure Program through our
investment of $700,000, the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund
through our investment of $9 million and the Canada Strategic
Infrastructure Fund II through our investment of $1 million, for
a total provincial investment in municipal infrastructure this
year of $33.2 million. Furthermore, our government will
administer the federal gas tax rebate program under which $19.8
million will flow to municipalities for
environmentally-sustainable projects.
The province�s public buildings also require regular
investments to maximize the value of these properties. We will
invest $8.5 million to maintain public buildings, another $8
million to remediate or remove buildings as needed, and $1.5
million to reconfigure buildings to optimize usage and reduce
rental costs. We will also begin construction of a much-needed
courthouse in Corner Brook.
Nowhere is the need for new investments in public buildings
greater than in our health and education sectors. In our
health sector, we will invest close to $40 million in new
capital construction projects, including new long-term care
facilities in Corner Brook, Clarenville and Happy Valley-Goose
Bay and planning for long-term care in Lewisporte and St.
John�s. In response to the growing need for health care
services, we will build a new health centre in Labrador City,
continue with renovations to the older section of James Paton
Memorial Hospital in Gander, and complete the Cancer Clinic in
Grand Falls-Windsor. Budget 2006 includes funding to continue
with a new primary health clinic in Grand Bank and renovations
to the Blue Crest Nursing Home. In the education system, we will
be investing $20.4 million in capital equipment, construction,
alterations and improvements at Memorial University, $8.6
million at the College of the North Atlantic, and $37 million in
the K-to-12 system.
We will make these significant investments in infrastructure
with a keen understanding of the relationship between reliable
infrastructure and our attractiveness to investors, and also
with a clear appreciation of the capacity of infrastructure work
to generate strong economic activity on its own and to improve
the lives of our people in numerous ways.
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