The price of relocating the Ontario Science Scentre to Ontario Place elevated by $400 million in lower than eight months, the province’s auditor general has discovered, throwing chilly water on the federal government’s assertions that transferring the vacationer attraction can be cheaper than renovating the present website.
When the Ford government introduced a controversial plan to shutter and relocate the Ontario Science Centre within the spring of 2023, the province boasted that taxpayers would save $257 million, over a 50-year interval, by closing the growing old and poorly maintained website.
The popular possibility, the federal government stated, was to construct a brand new science centre on the Ontario Place ground that, regardless of a smaller footprint, would match all of the “core programming” the science centre wants to satisfy its mandate.
A enterprise case evaluation advised that protecting the science centre on the present website would value $1.3 billion over 50 years, in contrast with $1.047 billion over 50 years to maneuver it to Ontario Place.
Whereas the federal government by no means up to date that determine, Ontario’s auditor common discovered on Tuesday that the associated fee to construct and preserve a brand new science centre at Ontario Place has elevated by $397 million over that very same 50-year interval — a 47 per cent improve from the unique estimated value authorised by the federal government.
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“If these prices are added to the $1.047 billion the full is now $1.444 billion,” the auditor discovered.
The elevated prices are as a consequence of a $244 million improve in design and development prices, a $93 million improve in life cycle and upkeep prices and an $80 million improve in prices as a consequence of modifications to the constructing and price escalations.
The most recent monetary snapshot obtainable, nevertheless, is from November 2023 — which means the prices could have elevated over the previous 12 months.
The auditor notes that the worth tag of rehabilitating the present science centre would have additionally elevated, however didn’t specify by how a lot.
The auditor advisable that the Ministry of Infrastructure ought to present Ford’s cupboard with the “full value implications” to permit the province to make a sound determination.
The ministry accepted the advice.
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