Nova Scotia government announces a huge infrastructure renewal project
Improvements will especially affect health care and road construction becoming the biggest budget plan in history.
Allan McMaster, Finance Minister Nova Scotia, said the province will spend $1.62 billion CAD on infrastructure. The planned spending over the next two years on highways, schools, and hospitals will be the largest annual infrastructure budget in the province's history. Last year, the government budgeted $1.58 billion CAD.
Minister of Finance Allan MacMaster announces the government will spend $1.62 billion on its capital plan in the coming year to strengthen infrastructure. The minister also said the capital plan is an investment in further generations influencing today and preparing for the future. “This is an ambitious plan, but we are a growing province and we need to invest in our infrastructure,” MacMaster said during a press conference.
For the year beginning April 1, Nova Scotia will spend $275.1 million on the province’s two biggest hospital projects: the Halifax Infirmary expansion and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality healthcare redevelopment. It will also spend $91 million on other medical facility upgrades in Bridgewater, Pugwash, Yarmouth, and Halifax.
The province plans to spend $498.5 million on its five-year highway improvement plan, which includes $60 million more than last year for secondary highways and $15 million more for gravel roads.
As well, $240.8 million is budgeted to build and renovate schools in Nova Scotia, which includes an increase of $24 million for repairs and $40 million for new modular units.
The province will allocate $21 million CAD to repair and maintain public and affordable housing. Nova Scotia’s opposition Liberals and The New Democratic Party members both say they are disappointed by the lack of spending planned on affordable housing. “There’s a major housing crisis in the province. We've got almost 7,000 people on the waiting list for public housing,” said Braedon Clark, the Liberal finance critic.
Finance critic Lisa Lachance said to tackle the significant number of people waiting for public housing, the province should have planned to build 1,000 new units of affordable public housing. “It would still be a drop in the bucket, but it would be a signal that the government was taking this housing crisis seriously,” Lachance said in an interview.
The largest chunk of this year’s capital funds will go to the Public Works Department, with more than $552 million in planned spending. The Health Department is close behind with more than $537 million budgeted.
