The City of Winnipeg has secured provincial funding for the third and final phase of the North End Sewage Treatment Plant. The price tag to upgrade this facility is $3 billion, with the third phase costing over half of the total cost.
“This project is critical for Winnipeg’s growth in the future. And I’ll knock on the capacity challenges that we have right now. And it’s really vital to make sure that we are protecting Lake Winnipeg,” said Mayor Scott Gillingham.
The province confirmed to CityNews they notified the City about their commitment.
“In addition to making this investment, we are also part of the negotiations with the federal government to make sure they commit to their portion of the funding. Now we will continue working with the city to deliver this project on budget,” said Premier Wab Kinew.
Mayor Gillingham welcomed the provincial commitment and said the talks to secure the federal funding are in progress
The third phase is focused on building a new facility that would help remove nutrients from treated water, making it cleaner when it enters the river.
Construction is scheduled for 2028. Mayor Gillingham said it is crucial for the city to start construction as the current plant is running at capacity.
“In the coming months, we need the things to finalize. We need to make sure that we get the plant built within the next two years to make sure we don’t run out of capacity,” said Gillingham.
The announcement comes in the wake of an upcoming municipal election this fall. Political scientist Malcolm Bird says though the plant is a critical piece of infrastructure, it should have little influence on the mayor’s campaign to get re-elected.
“I think most voters are concerned with more visible issues such as challenges with crime, challenges with homelessness, drug addiction, and those types of things. So those are probably a little more front and center for your average voter. But that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a really important issue. To the mayor’s credit, this is a big step,” said Bird.
When the construction is complete, the plant would be able to handle a population of more than one million people.
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