Springbank community continues to pushback against reservoir

SPRINGBANK (660 NEWS) — More concerns are being raised about the cost of the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1) after it seemed the price was doubled by the provincial government.

The Springbank Community Association (SCA) says it will now be more than $500 million compared to the original cost of $209 million, but Transportation Minister Ric McIver’s office says the project was always set at $432 million when it was tabled in the budget.

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In a statement, his office says, “We won’t know what the final cost is until the land acquisition is complete, until the Natural Resources Conservation Board and the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada provide their conditions for approval, which we don’t know what their costs of those would be, once the project is tendered. So, we still think it’s going to cost $432 million, but we don’t have a final cost because there are a few unknowns that are still out there.”

The SCA claims some of these cost increases have come from large payments made by the government to certain groups who were initially opposed to SR1, but would withdraw opposition once an agreement was reached.

Karin Hunter with the SCA says they have been left in the dark when it comes to how much taxpayers will be dishing out.

“We don’t have those costs, Alberta Transportation has said they will not be releasing them and it’s rather shocking as this is a public project,” Hunter said.

The minister’s office confirmed those agreements will not be made public and the total amount of SR1 will not cost more than $432 million, but those additional agreements will be filed under flood mitigation efforts.

The government says the purpose of those agreements is not to withdraw opposition, but to let communities know efforts are being put in place to protect them.

In recent weeks the SCA has wanted reconsideration about changing SR1 to the Mclean Creek Project as it is more effective and beneficial to surrounding communities, but the minister’s office says they are putting its focus and moving forward with SR1.