Moncton gets funding to help with Jonathan Creek flooding

Thefederalgovernmentannounced $1.1 million in funding Monday to help address flooding problems in the Jonathan Creek area.

Some people in the area have had several feet of water in their basements on six to eight occasions since 1999.

In order to alleviate the flooding problem, engineerswith the city and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure have said five culverts that direct the flow of Jonathan Creekhave to be replaced.

The total cost of the project is$3.4 million. The federal funding comes through the government's small communities fund which sees the federal, provincial and local government all contribute one-third of the cost of the project.

The New Brunswick government is also paying $1.1 million towardsthe Monctonproject with the city responsible for the remainder.

"This will directly address flooding incidents, thus reducing the burden on the waste water treatment plant as well as overflow incidents," stated a federal government release.

"This work will improve the efficiency of the wastewater collection and treatment system in the area, and improve protection against property damage from flooding."

The first step will be to replace a culvert owned by CN that crosses under the railway tracks.

It is anticipated construction of the CN culvert will begin in the fall of 2015.

As recently as last week, provincial and city engineers were telling area residents it would likely be 2018 before all the work wouldbe completed.

Downtown centre funds still a mystery

There had been speculation in Moncton on Monday that the funding announcement could be the long-awaited funds for the $107-milliondowntown sports and entertainment centre.

TransportationMinister Roger Melanson joked from the podium that he has "never seen so many people show up for a culvert funding announcement."

Melanson met with Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc and Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Conservative MP Robert Goguen on Monday about the downtown entertainment centre.

The city has been pushing for funding from the other two levels of government.

The provincial government has recently released a policy on when it will offer funding for recreational infrastructure. But the provincial governmenthas not said whether it will offer up any funds for the downtown centre.

"They're going through an evaluation as we speak and we want to see some strong economic development. We want to see some solid return on investment," he said.

"We want to protect taxpayers dollars and that's why we haven't finished the evaluation."

The city's mayor said there are still no formal commitments made for funding the project and there are some internal deadlines looming.

ButLeBlancsaid he believes the project will meet the new guidelines set out by the provincial government.

"There are 13provisions in that policy, I'm convinced we have already met most of those and the ones that are left that we will meet," LeBlanc said.

The federal government has also not said whether it would fund the sports and entertainment centre.

Goguen said he's more confident after Monday's meeting that funding will be coming.

He said the federal government will not directly fund the project but he said there are other infrastructure funds available for the federal cash.