‘decision’ to
_ Maintenance work.

_ sector,
. savings [rom privatization to tax-

"Report raps
private road

contractors

PRIVATIZATION of road’

maintenance and snow-clearing
in B.C. isn’t cost-efficient, ac-
cording to a review of the pro-
gram.

And highways minister Jackic
Pement warned Friday the find-

_ ings could mean a return to public

sector road maintenance if costs
aren’t brought down.
Failure to achieve cost reduc-

- {ions could result in reorganiza-

tion of the road maintenance sys-

_ tem, Pement said, including the

possibility of returning it to ihe
public sector. .

Highways ministry staff were’

cut dramatically in 1988 with ths
privatize oad

‘The review suggests privatized

oad maintenance costs have in-

creased by an average of $15 mil-
lion per year since 1988, when
the Social Credit government

privatized the system.

It found that a full public

‘-jeview of the privatized system

isn’l necessary because ‘‘it seems
clear that the program is not cost-
efficient in relation to the minis-

.. try’s original program.’?

.-“*Privatization was a politically

“mandated program which would

not have been implemented in its
current form if adequate research,
impartial analysis of alternatives
and careful re-engineering of
maintenance processes had been

‘performed before the decision

had been made,”

‘But it noted the review team
doesn’t support the idea of simply
reversing privatization.

“This simple reaclion would
likely give rise to yet another
round of excess expenditures,”’

B.C. Reform MLA Lyall
Hanson — a member of the for-
mer Socred government thal
privatized road maintenance —
slammed the report as ‘‘nothing
more (han an attempt to rational-
ize more payola for construction

‘unions,’’

-He said the government study is

- flatly contradicted by a 1993
_Emst & Young study that found

taxpayers had saved $165 million
and got better quality service
since - road and bridge
maintenance was privatized.
“The NDP are hell bent on
gradually returning highways
maintenance work to the public
notwithstanding —the

payers,”’ he said.
” Hanson suggested the study was
a waste of taxpayers’ money

oo aimed at obtaining supposedly in-

dependent results io justify a
predetermined course of action.
‘Instead of looking for ways to

_teduce. highways maintenante

cosis, this government is doing
the: opposite, solely to buy sup-
port from its union paymaster.”’

- B.C, Government Employees’

Union president John Shields also
responded to the report, calling it

~ confirmation © that” privatization
chas failed.
oe “Clearly this
: demonstrates a case for reinstat-
Ing highways maintenance in the
government service.”

report

@ Final
touches

TRAFFIC PATTERNS
got back to normal at the
west end of the
downtown core last
week. Dry weather
allowed pavers to getin
ut the finishing
fou es to the Eby St.
project. While the

 Lazelle-Lakelse portion

was closed, residents on
streets adjacent to Eby

The Tarace Standard, Wednesday, July 20, 1994 - AQ

Pleasant surprise

HIS PRESENTATION was

‘on the agenda, but last

week’s appearance before
council was still something of
a surprise, airport manager
Darry! Laurent admitted.

Laurent was there to hand
over a cheque for $2,500, the
full amount the city had
given organizers of the
airshow held here in May.

At the time he originally
asked council for the grant,

Laurent had promised
organizers would use any
money made by the event to
repay council.

However, he confessed last
week, **When I said that, I
didn’t believe it.’

The airshow
succeeded ‘beyond our
wildest dreams” - It
produced a $9,000 surplus —
he was happy to have been
proved wrong,

got a fair idea of how
many drivers use that
road because of the
sudden increase in traffic
on their streets.

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