LRT Phase 2 contract delayed to next year

The contract for the expansion of the city's LRT system will be delayed for a second time now that a so-called "lame duck" council has been returned to City Hall after Monday's election.

Originally, council was supposed to approve the $3.3-billion deal for Phase 2 of Ottawa's light-rail system last spring, but in March of this year, the short list of consortiums bidding for east-west and north-south expansions asked for more time to prepare the complex bids.

Council was supposed to approve the huge deal between October and the end of the year.

But the current council is not allowed to approve the contract. Because fewer than 75 per cent of councillors are returning in the next term, this council is now what is referred to in municipal law as a "lame duck", and cannot approve anything worth more than $50,000.

On Monday, seven new councillors were elected. Put another way, only 70.8 per cent of the 24-member council is returning. 

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LRT2 start time still on track

Although the new council takes effect on Dec. 1, there are too many issues on the agenda to deal with the LRT expansion contract before the year-end, said Chris Swail, the director of O-Train planning.

Instead, the deal is expected to be presented to the new council in early 2019, either at the end of January or the start of February.  

Swail said the latest snag in signing the contract should not delay the start of the project, expected sometime next summer.

Phase 2, which is supposed to be finished by 2023, will see the O-Train system extended to Moodie Drive in the west, Trim Road in the east, Earl Armstrong Road in the south with a spur to airport, as well to Algonquin College.

The completion of first phase of light-rail — the $2.1-billion Confederation Line — has been delayed twice, and was supposed to be handed over to the city by Nov. 2. There is currently no publicly announced completion date for the massive infrastructure project.