NAICAM – On Dec. 19, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and Scott Pearce, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, announced a federal investment of over $220,000 to help five communities in Saskatchewan implement innovative strategies to manage their municipal infrastructure.
In the northeast, the Rural Municipality of Pleasantdale No. 398 will receive $50,000 to collect data that will better inform its decisions on infrastructure and capital assets. The data collected will be focused on road conditions, gravel pits and future resource expectations.
Known as asset management, this investment will help the communities ensure that their infrastructure such as arenas, bridges, drinking water and wastewater systems, and roads are working as efficiently as possible. It will also allow them to make better investment decisions. Asset management additionally helps reduce risks so municipalities can provide reliable and affordable services and a high quality of life to their residents.
Trevor Peterson, acting administrator for the RM of Pleasantdale said the grant will allow them to hire an engineering firm. The specific data that will be collected by them travelling around the RM will assess the conditions of their roadways, culverts, bridges, and gravel pits. This includes how many culverts and bridges, the conditions of each at their specific locations, the amount and quality of gravel in our active pits, and the expected lifespan of all of those previously.
The study will allow the RM to rank the above assets in order of the ones that need the most attention to the ones of least concern, allowing the RM to plan the allocation of budget from year to year in the most appropriate way in order to have the greatest effect on improving and maintaining the overall conditions of our assets said Peterson. This will form the basis of a long term plan to best address infrastructure within the RM that best takes into consideration safety, costs, and longevity.
Other Recipients
The Town of Lumsden is receiving $50,000 to update, develop, and implement asset management practices with identified objectives, roles, and levels of service. The Town will consolidate data into a more accessible and useable format, and the asset investment plans developed will prioritize work to be implemented over 5 to 10 years. Operational templates will be developed to help with the collection and use of missing or inadequate data.
The Rural Municipality of Hazel Dell No. 335 receives $49,950 to create and maintain an asset management program, once the initial asset data has been created,
“Local governments are responsible for approximately 60 per cent of the public infrastructure that support our economy and our quality of life, such as roads, bridges and wastewater systems. That’s why supporting them in building and maintaining strong asset management through initiatives like the FCM’s Municipal Asset Management Program is crucial. This program, funded by the Government of Canada, helps communities in Saskatchewan and across the country develop sound asset management practices and conduct data collection and analysis to improve their investment decisions.” said Scott Pearce, President, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Under the Investing in Canada Plan, the Government of Canada is investing over $180 billion over 12 years in municipal asset management, in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities across Canada.
