Mélissa Gélinas LJI Reporter

During this week of budget studies for the City of Gatineau, a 2024 review was presented to obtain an annual overview of strategic projects, the budget, funding and achievements.

Last year, when the 2023 review was presented, commitments were made to continue the deployment of projects related to the strategic planning of the infrastructure service, as well as the modernization of these projects.

This year, 12 of these strategic projects have been completed, including three related to citizen service. In total, as of October, more than 336 projects have been adopted for a budget value of $1,427,000,000 at the portfolio level. (Portfolio means a set of financial assets held by an institution or individual.)

The distribution of these main projects is water and sewer networks, roads, real estate, water treatment and pumping, parks and special (large-scale) projects, including the police headquarters.

This funding is distributed from three sources: 30% comes from the maintenance component investment plan (PIVM); 41% is from outside this investment plan; and 29% comes from subsidies.

Currently, there is an 89% commitment rate for all phases of projects compared to work continued and started, plans and specifications and the start of the preliminary project. “This is a phase that can move forward and backward over time, but I am very happy to have this commitment rate […]” explained Rita Chahine, Director of Infrastructure and Projects.

More than $160 million was spent on work this year, compared to $139 million in 2023. “This represents a growth of more than 10% and it also includes inflation, so it is beyond the inflation factor,” she continued. “This shows that we have put a lot of effort into really spending the money and carrying out the projects. Furthermore, this year, we have managed to complete several paving projects.”

Lack of manpower currently remains the root of the problem. “There are also regulatory requirements that are increasingly complex and that prevent us from moving projects forward,” said Ms. Chahine. “Climate change and obsolete infrastructure are leading to emergencies that were not foreseen for in the investment plan. For example, there are more than 19 emergency projects that were not foreseen […] where we had to intervene to carry out emergency work on the ground due to the low quality of roads, culverts, and many others,” she continues.

“We are committed to continuous improvement, in order to improve the process and provide quality services to our citizens by handling requests, analyzing development projects and much more,” said Chahine.

For more information on the 2024 budget, go to: https://villes.pqm.net/gatineau/archive/index.php?id=2139

Photo: Members of the municipal council, during the City of Gatineau’s budget study week (November 6, 2024) (MG) Photo: Mélissa Gélinas