Rethinking (and Rebuilding) B.C. Infrastructure
B.C.’s overstressed infrastructure is forcing us to rethink how we decide on and pay for major projects.
Considering all the obstacles, it’s a wonder anything gets built at all in B.C. There are strict new regulations, a furious debate over public-private partnerships (P3s), clashing regional politics, good old-fashioned NIMBYism and – of course – the question of who will pay for it all. And did we mention it all has to be green? Putting down new infrastructure in B.C. has never been more contentious. But according to the experts, infrastructure is exactly what we need more of. In fact, we’re falling behind.
Existing roads, power lines and other facilities are nearing the end of their life cycle, while at the same time a growing population is demanding more and more service. There has to be a breaking point, where the need for infrastructure and the province’s and municipalities’ will to build and pay come into balance. Despite some impressive megaprojects over the past few years (such as the Canada Line, the Golden Ears Bridge and the Sea to Sky Highway expansion), B.C. has yet to make the really tough decisions.
To discuss just how crucial those decisions are and what some solutions might be, we’re joined by Malcolm Brodie, mayor of Richmond, chair of the Metro Vancouver finance committee and vice-chair of the Municipal Finance Authority of B.C.; Alan Russell, professor of civil engineering at UBC; and David Egan, managing director of infrastructure and project finance at the Vancouver office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Is there an infrastructure gap in B.C.?
RUSSELL: Is there a gap? Yeah, there are gaps all over the province depending on what your expectations are. If you want equivalency across the province, there is a definitive gap. You can’t have in Smithers what you can have in the Lower Mainland. We’re also getting to stuff that’s 50, 60, 70, 80 years old at the same time there’s demand for new capacity. You’ve got a double burden that you weren’t carrying before, so that’s a huge issue. But it’s a matter of perception: what expectations are versus our capacity to deliver. And there is a larger gap in terms of what people are willing to pay for.
EGAN: I do think there is an infrastructure gap; there always seems to be. Having said that, in the last few years there have been a number of large-scale projects that have addressed some significant needs, particularly on the transportation side. What we’ll see in the future is probably a shifting toward other areas: energy, I think. There are at least two or three megaprojects out there, like the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge. But if you think about the fact that the population continues to increase, you’re always going to face some kind of infrastructure gap. To the extent that it’s growing in B.C., it’s really hard to say. It continues to shift. It’s like owning a house: you never really quite get caught up.
BRODIE: If you look across the country, there’s literally hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure that we need. It is the result of age, the fact that we’ve certainly grown in population but also there are new regulations imposed on us. Look at the Seymour-Capilano water filtration plant on the North Shore; it’s a result of the Walkerton disaster. New regulation imposed on us by the federal government cost us $800 million. If you go through major services on the Metro Vancouver level, the basic utilities, the needs are enormous. Over the next 10 years, we will have about $5 billion in projects that we need to go through.
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