March 22, 1999
(Municipal and Provincial Affairs)

$100 Million Capital Works Program Announced

Lloyd Matthews, Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, announced $100 million for the multi-year Municipal Capital Works Program today. Minister Matthews had announced government's intention to introduce a multi-year Municipal Capital Works Program on January 14, 1999.

Mr. Matthews said that the intent of the multi-year program is to provide funding for municipal infrastructure projects that are too large to be effectively or efficiently accommodated within the regular Municipal Capital Works Program. Introduction of this multi-year program will allow comprehensive infrastructure development to take place as well as achieve economies of scale.

He said: "Under the regular capital works program, we were unable to commit sufficient funding for larger yet integral parts of municipal infrastructure such as main trunk water/sewer piping or treatment plant construction. As a result, work often had to be done on a piecemeal basis and breaking projects down into small pieces often resulted in uneconomical units and slowed development."

Mr. Matthews said that guidelines for the new program will be available shortly from the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs. These guidelines have been developed in cooperation with the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities. Once the guidelines are released, municipalities will be able to submit proposals for multi-year funding. He added that only proposals from municipalities which can access funding from private lending institutions will be accepted.

Mr. Matthews said that providing for infrastructure requirements, including water and sewer, waste management facilities and roads, continues to be a significant challenge. He added: "My department has been examining this problem in consultation with municipalities, engineering consultants and other stakeholders. We regard the multi-year funding component as one mechanism to improve infrastructure delivery throughout the province and are committed to continuing to work with our stakeholders to further achieve this goal."

Media contact: John Doody, Communications, (709) 729-1983.

1999 03 22