Province tells City of Winnipeg it must explore public-private partnership for sewage plant

The provincial government wants the City of Winnipeg to explore expanding and operating the North End Sewage Treatment Plant through a public-private partnership that would privatize the city's entire treatment system, the director of the water and waste department says.

Moira Geer's report to members of the city's executive policy committee says theProgressive Conservative government has directed the city to engage a consultant for an"analysis of the feasibility of a public-private partnership (P3) procurement methodology" for the sewage plant'sbiosolids and nutrient removal facilities.

The city wants to take advantage of thefederal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Programto help pay for the upgrades, estimated at $1.8 billion, but the application must be approved and forwarded to Ottawaby the provincial government. Instead of forwarding a request for funding, the province has asked that a public-private partnership be explored.

Because the city's treatment plants work in tandem and any public-privatepartnership contract could run as long as 30 years, Geer has concluded a P3 would effectively take control of the whole system out of the hands of the city.

"This type of P3 would essentially be privatization of the entire sewage treatment system in the City of Winnipeg," Geer wrote in her report.

Staff at the city's water and waste department told officials a P3 would not work for the maintenance and operation of the plant, but the advice was ignored, she said.

"The public service, with the assistance of external consultants, has advised the province this is not a feasible solution, but the city has still been directed by the province to test the market," Geer's report says.

As a result, Geer is asking for $400,000 to engage a consultant to meet the provincial directive.

That has met stiff resistance from the chair of the water and waste committee, who says he will not vote to spend money on the report.

"I'd like to sit down with people from the province face to face and say,'Did you really? Is this some misunderstanding? Do you really think we have to privatize sewage treatment?'" Coun.Brian Mayessaid.

The request also creates another delay to needed upgradesat the city's largest sewage treatment plant.

In 2003, Winnipeg was ordered by the province's Clean Environment Commission to reduce the nutrient load it puts into Lake Winnipeg.

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Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, through a spokesperson, saidthe province should stop delaying the already lengthy process.

"The mayor is of the position that the provincial government should respect the will of council and forward the city's application on to the federal government without further delay or conditions," the spokesperson wrote.

There is pressure on all sides as the city's sewage treatment capacity is dwindling and demands on it are increasing.

The province is sticking to its request, saying the city could stillrun the treatment system through a contract with a private company.

"The plant's operations are under the control of the City of Winnipeg. The city is also the signatory to the contract and they define the terms.However, Manitoba believes a P3 procurement model will bring the benefits of greater cost certainty and constraint, as well as schedule acceleration," wrote a spokesperson for Municipal Relations MinisterDerek Johnson.

The city's executive policy committee will meet Wednesday to consider the request to pay a consultant to look at the public-private partnership model.