Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee then met with the Minister and his officials on Monday, September 26, 2005, to review the draft business plan of the Department of Transportation.

Members also received a briefing from the Minister of Finance on January 17, 2006, outlining the changes to the budget of the Department of Transportation since the committee reviewed the business plan in September.

Committee members made note that the department is proposing to spend $83 million in operations expense and $46 million on capital projects in fiscal year 2006-2007.

Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2006-2007 Draft Main Estimates and budget-planning cycle.

Deh Cho Bridge

The Deh Cho Bridge is being built through a public-private partnership arrangement between the GNWT and the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. The Deh Cho Bridge Corporation will raise the capital, design, build, operate and maintain the Deh Cho Bridge. The Government of the Northwest Territories will pay the corporation for the bridge over a 35-year period, largely from toll revenues collected from the traffic crossing the bridge and savings from discontinued ferry operations and winter road construction.

A significant cost increase to construct the bridge could impact and increase the bridge tolls the GNWT has to collect to pay for the bridge. An increase to the tolls may mean communities north of the bridge may have to pay more for goods and services than current prices that are already high due to transportation costs.

In the 2006-2007 Main Estimates, the lease costs for the Deh Cho Bridge are projected to rise from $57 to $70 million dollars. The government says that this figure still keeps the bridge costs within the permissible toll rate of $5 to $6 per tonne. The committee, however, is concerned about delays to this project. For example, traffic is not expected to roll across the bridge until 2008, three years later than the department's original projections. Also, there are only two remaining contractors left to bid on the bridge construction and the increasing costs for steel to build the bridge is of a concern.

Finally, the government has just added greater expense and further complications to the project by taking over the operations of the Fort Providence ferry and its employees. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes the Department of Transportation committee comments. Thank you.