Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay announced timetables Monday for some of the city's mega-projects, saying he wants to see groundbreaking at the waterfront and the entertainment quarter by next year.
Tremblay, flanked by several of his Union Montreal candidates, said he would use millions in public funds to jump-start projects that have been announced over the past several years.
"We're going to continue to invest $180 million over the next three years. It's a capital investment fund that accelerates the realization of projects," said Tremblay
They include upgrades to Ste. Catherine St. and areas east of Place des Arts as part of the revamped entertainment district. The mayor wants phases two, three and four of the Quartier des Spectacles to start next year.
He also focused on the planned nature museums in the east end and plans to move the Planetarium near the Biodome.
The Bonaventure Expressway, which curls into downtown from the Champlain Bridge, would be levelled and rebuilt further north to accommodate a revitalized waterfront.
Tremblay says the seed money would also lead to the start of construction of the long-delayed English and French superhospitals.
Nothing new here
Officials from the Projet Montreal party said the announcement was irrelevant because it contained no new information.
"(This) was launched, we thought, in 2006, reannounced in 2007, reannounced again in 2008," said Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron, who agreed the projects are good for the city and intends to carry through with them if he is elected.
Tremblay fires away at Harel
The mayor took a shot at his chief mayoral rival, Louise Harel, who has talked about reorganizing the borough structure at City Hall.
"While Mme. Harel talks about ... another useless debate about structures, we're going ahead with concrete projects," he told reporters.
Municipal elections will be held across the province on Nov. 1.
