Sale of surplus Parker land improves prospect of Transitway savings

The Southwest Transitway is on track to be completed under budget, thanks to the sale of land no longer needed for the project and relatively few last-minute changes.

The city is one year away from wrapping up most of the work on a project that involves boththe southern extension of the city's first dedicated bus corridor and the widening of Pembina Highway at the Jubilee Avenue underpass.

The project has a $467-million budget that is all but set in stone because it's being completed as a public-private partnership. Private construction consortium Plenary Roads has assumed most of the risk of cost overruns as well as the rewards associated with work costing less than expected.

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Nonetheless, Winnipeg chief administrative officer Doug McNeilrevealed some savings on Tuesday to council's public works committee.

The city has sold $5.3-million worth of surplus land in the Parker neighbourhood to Manitoba Hydro, McNeil said.

This will offset part of the $20.7-million price for land alongside a north-south hydro corridor in the Beaumont and Maybank neighbourhoods in 2016, the CAO said.

That purchase cost the City of Winnipeg four times more than officials initially expected.

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The $5.3 million in proceeds will be credited against the project, said McNeil, cautioning it's too soon to say whether the City of Winnipeg will be able to spend this money elsewhere.

With almost a year to go before substantial completion on the transitway and Pembinaproject, the city has issued $2.6-million worth of construction changeorders to Plenary Roads. These involverequests to conduct work beyond the scope of the original contract with the construction consortium.

The city set aside a $69-million contingency fundto deal with potential change orders.

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McNeilsaid it's still possible the project will be completed at a much lower cost than $467 million.

"As we move further and further through the project the risk of us using more of that contingency reduces," the CAO said.

Work on the PembinaHighway component of the project is expected to wrap up in 2019. The second leg of the Southwest Transitway, which runs from Jubilee Avenue to the University of Manitoba's Fort Garry campus, is slated to open in spring 2020.

The only completed section is Bohemier Trail, a spur corridor from PembinaHighway to Investors Group Field at the University of Manitoba. It's used during Winnipeg Blue Bomber home games.