Police-HQ project to cost even more

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/03/2016 (3498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The cost of Winnipeg’s new police-headquarters project is on the rise again, but this time only by another $800,000.

The 2016 capital budget, a spending blueprint for municipal construction projects, improvements and equipment purchases, calls for $290,000 to be spent this year on “systems safeguards” for the new downtown police headquarters and another $510,000 to be spent next year on the Smith Street complex.

This $800,000 is in addition to $1.7 million already spent by the city in 2015 to repair electrical damage incurred during a 2014 rainstorm and subsequent improvements to the building’s elevator, escalator, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, parking lot, moisture barrier and the physical structure.

Unspent money from the 2014 police budget, initially earmarked for computer and systems upgrades, will pay for the additional improvements, according to budget documents.

Nonetheless, the spending takes the total project cost up to $214.2 million, including the purchase of the former downtown Canada Post complex in 2009, the renovations undertaken by Caspian Construction, the post-rainstorm improvements and physical security barriers planned for the exterior of the building.

It does not, however, include $2.1 million in information-systems upgrades slated for the new police HQ. According to budget documents, information-technology systems installed in 2014 will be replaced in 2021.

The Winnipeg Police Service began moving into its new home late in 2015 and is expected to complete the transition out of the Public Safety Building on Princess Street this year. The project has suffered from delays, project-management issues detailed in a 2014 external audit and $79 million worth of cost increases. Council originally approved the project in 2009, when it was told it would cost the city $135 million.

The police-HQ project also remains under investigation by the RCMP, which is looking into allegations of fraud and forgery related to construction invoices for the project. The Mounties have been investigating allegations involving contractor Caspian Construction since 2014, when they raided the firm’s McGillivray Boulevard offices and announced the launch of a criminal investigation.

No charges have been laid, and allegations have not been proven in court.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca