The Regional District of Nanaimo’s bill for a marine sewage pipe project will decrease, thanks to a $6-million infusion of federal gas tax money.
Municipal, provincial and federal governments made the funding announcement Tuesday, which saw money doled out for capital projects in B.C that better protect the environment and improve drinking water.
The regional district project is replacing outfall pipe from the Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre, which has been in place since 1973 and runs two kilometres out into Georgia Strait.
Bill Veenhof, regional district board chairman, said pipe replacement is vital. The facility treats wastewater not only from the City of Nanaimo, but also Snuneymuxw First Nation and the District of Lantzville, he said.
.@pgoldsmithjones says Canada #govt providing $6M to @RDNanaimo, which will go to marine outfall.
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) July 5, 2016
With the federal money, the burden on taxpayers will lessen too, said Wendy Idema, regional district director of finance.
“Our debt servicing costs will go down by almost $400,000 a year (for the next 20 years) likely, so there is that savings because we would tax to pay for that debt servicing,” Idema said.
She said that will lead to savings of approximately $11 a year for Nanaimo homeowners.
The land and marine portions of the project have a total price tag of $18 million and together with $2 million in gas tax money for the land outfall granted in 2014, $8 million has come from the federal government.
In terms of construction, marine piping was recently put in place on the ocean floor and connecting the marine and land sections comes next, said Sean De Pol, regional district wastewater services manager.
He said work in the marine area must be finished by Sept. 15 to meet a Fisheries and Oceans Canada deadline, although other work can happen after. Work is on schedule, he said.
In total, $39 million of federal gas tax money was contributed to seven projects in B.C.