Bipole costs have soared: CTF

A leaked document suggests the cost of a planned Manitoba Hydro transmission line down the west side of Lake Winnipeg may be nearly double the original estimate.

The line, which is to bring hydro power from the north, was originally pegged in 2007 to cost $2.2 billion. But an internal Hydro document obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says the cost is now forecast to be $4.1 billion.

Federation spokesman Colin Craig says it's time for the Crown corporation and the Manitoba government to come clean with the public and admit that the price tag has gone up.

"The government will try and spin this by saying the increased cost is related to this that or the other thing," CTF prairie director Colin Craig stated in a news release.

"The bottom line is that internal Hydro documents show the projects cost has exploded from $2.2 billion to $4.1 billion. Manitobans simply cant afford the extra $1 billion it will cost to build a much longer line down the west side of the province."

Hydro president Bob Brennan says the document is only a preliminary estimate prepared by a "mix of people" at the Crown corporation. Outside consulting engineers have been hired to provide an official figure, he said.

"You don't accept every document in which somebody comes up with an estimate and say, 'Ah, that's the estimate we're going to use,"' Brennan said.

"We look at it, we determine whether it's reasonable and change our official estimate. We haven't gone through that process."

Brennan says the price tag has probably risen since 2007, primarily due to rising construction costs for converter stations,but $4.1 billion seems too high.

Craig and the CTF releaseda copy of the leaked document, which the federation received in a brown envelope.

The envelope was unmarked except foran attached note advising Craig that a column he wrote for the Winnipeg Sun, titled Bipole a Ticking Time Bomb,was "right on the mark."

Controversial route

The west side route has been a source of controversy since theNDP government announced it in 2007.

Originally, Manitoba Hydro chose a route on the east side of the province butthe government stepped in to overrule those plans, saying a west side route will preserve a boreal forest on the east side.

The province is seeking to have that forest area, containing 40,000 square kilometres of trees, rivers, lakes and wetlands spread across the Canadian shield and straddling the Manitoba-Ontario border, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

That meant the power line would cost an extra $640 million because the western route is 50 per cent longer.

But it also has the advantage of having the least impact on agricultural land, avoids National and Provincial Parks, and First Nation reserve lands, the government has said.