The Quebec Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility revealed on Wednesday how many companies have submitted an official proposal for the construction of a future road bridge or tunnel to connect the banks of the capital region.
“This is excellent news, this market interest in our project,” declared Ms. Guilbault at a press briefing.
Of 29 entities that requested documents, 23 completed the necessary form to potentially participate in the actual construction and next steps in the qualification and RFP processes.
The Legault government will meet with the 23 companies individually, starting this week.
Of the lot, 15 are engineering firms, seven are construction contractors and there is one project management firm. Some will then be able to form a consortium.
For the moment, the minister has been unable to reveal the names of only two companies on the list: the French engineering group Ingérop, which has offices in Montreal, as well as Demathieu & Bard, based in Saint-Jérôme.
Each company must have at least one business connection in Quebec to be able to apply.
“Among all the times we have made calls for interest, this is the time when the most companies have shown interest.”
— Geneviève Guilbault, Quebec Minister of Transport
Close the bridge for one year
On October 11, Minister Guilbault held a press conference to announce that her government was launching a notice of call of international interest for the new inter-highway link project between Quebec and Lévis.
She then said she was giving herself two years to “take as many steps as possible” and make the project “relatively irreversible”.
A call for tenders was later published. There was a preliminary schedule in the form of a timeline where we read that Quebec aims to begin work no earlier than 2028, to finish it around 2035. In 10 years.
On the possibility of making the Quebec Bridge passable for heavy trucks in the event of the closure of the Laporte Bridge, a solution mentioned by Federal Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Ms. Guilbault recognizes that “there is a way to exceptionally arrange to make passing trucks. But it would be a temporary measure.
To make the Quebec bridge permanently open to trucks, the minister maintains that it would first have to be closed for a year.
“Closing the Quebec Bridge for a year, no one in their right mind thinks it’s a good idea,” she says, saying she has a five-page letter from the federal Ministry of Transport which explains all the complexity of such a project.
What they said
“There is fervor in the market! When there is so much interest in a project, it’s a good sign. It means that people are interested in it, are ready to work on it. It bodes well.”
— Jonatan Julien, Minister responsible for Infrastructure and the Capitale-Nationale region
“With Ms. Guilbault, we can never go 24 hours without talking about the third link if we are already talking about the tramway. It’s a very good marketing operation. But there is no plan, no budget. There’s nothing!”
— Monsef Derraji, spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec on transport
“The 23 companies interested don’t mean anything. We’ve all been looking for tourism brochures for countries we’ve never visited. The truth is that the CAQ wants to run a third electoral campaign by promising a third link.”
— Étienne Grandmont, spokesperson for Québec solidaire in terms of transport
“The call for interest published by the CAQ government demonstrates that this staging is based on electoral hoax: the document indicates that the government is acting “on the basis of considerations with regard to security and redundancy existing bridges mentioned in the CITÉ Plan published by CDPQ Infra”. However, the CITÉ Plan contains no consideration in this regard.”
— Pascal Paradis, spokesperson for the Parti Québécois for the Capitale-Nationale region
“The Coalition is pleased that a new step has been taken. The project is progressing and that’s good. The most important thing for us remains the route. It must be located east of Quebec and Lévis. We will continue to make ourselves heard on this point.
— Alain Vallières, general director of Bellechasse Economic Development, spokesperson for the Eastern Coalition and mayor of Saint-Vallier
“I think that this competition could be interesting” to lower the bill.
— Gilles Lehouillier, mayor of Lévis
