November 23, 2009

Policy

Give Infrastructure Quebec more resources and power, engineers urge

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The Quebec Order of Engineers has called on the province to give Infrastructure Quebec broader resources and powers so that it can create the tools and procedures needed for the long-term management of public structures.

“At a time when various levels of government are approving massive investments to overcome the infrastructure maintenance deficit and build new structures, Quebec must break with the management methods of the past if it is to ensure the durability of its public structures and spend the public’s money wisely,” said president Maud Cohen.

A draft bill establishing the new agency is currently before the legislature. Infrastructure Quebec’s role would be to contribute to the planning and implementation of major infrastructure projects by public bodies where government funding is involved.

Such organizations would be required to work with the new agency to prepare a business case that assesses the project’s relevance, identifies the options available and determines the preferred option and project delivery approach.

The bill also provides that if a public-private partnership or turnkey approach has been chosen as the project delivery model, the public body must work with Infrastructure Quebec so that the latter may co-ordinate the selection of the enterprise or group of enterprises that will be involved in the project.

Infrastructure Quebec would replace the province’s Public-Private Partnerships Agency.

In a brief to Quebec’s public finance committee, the Order of Engineers said the province “must shed the reflex” of engaging in day-to-day management and instead concentrate on an integrated approach, which takes into account the full structure lifecycle.

It said it considers an organization like Infrastructure Quebec to be “the ideal instrument” for ensuring that the managers of public infrastructure prepare long-term maintenance and financing plans.

Programs for the maintenance of new infrastructure should be filed with this agency, which would make the necessary verifications, consolidate the information and send it to the government, the Order of Engineers suggested.

The activities of this agency must be “fully transparent” so that it can provide information to the public. The agency must report to the government on the general state of infrastructure management, in particular with respect to maintenance and investment deficits.

The engineers’ organization recommended that Infrastructure Quebec collect relevant information on the state of structures, “thus becoming a collective memory of the maintenance of our public infrastructure.”

The Order of Engineers includes 58,000 engineering professionals in all fields.

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