Capital Investments – A message from The Hon. Doyle Piwniuk, Manitoba Transportation & Infrastructure (MTI)
The Government of Manitoba understands that infrastructure investments are foundational to economic growth. Budget 2022 commits to a historic investment of $2.4 billion over the next three years in transportation infrastructure, including a minimum of $500 million per year in highway infrastructure. Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure relies on the heavy construction industry to help deliver on capital commitments and continues to develop strategies and provide information to our industry partners, so that together, we can achieve success.
To accompany Manitoba’s three-year budget for infrastructure, Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has also published the 2022 Multi-Year Highways Investment Strategy, which provides more detail on specific highway projects over a longer-term. The public-facing investment plan is intended to provide better predictability for the construction industry in order to plan for future work.
To further address feedback from both the heavy construction and consulting sectors, Manitoba has updated the format of the advertising schedule for tenders. The November 2021 Advertising Schedule was the first quarterly schedule to use an updated format to allow Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure’s planned tendered work to be more transparent. This new quarterly format lists projects planned for tenders by month, over a three-month period, as well as projects planned to be tendered beyond the three-month period. It is also now accompanied by a sortable Excel list, this allows users to easily sort and search for projects.
The Manitoba government would like to express its gratitude to all members of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association who took on urgent projects this flood season. This year’s spring flood season was precedent setting, even by Manitoba standards. In April and May, Manitoba experienced a series of weather systems with high precipitation and strong winds, resulting in the fourth-largest flood in the Red River valley, and one of the largest floods on record in the province. Needless to say, the damage to provincial and municipal infrastructure is extensive. Unbudgeted and unplanned costs related to the 2022 Spring Flood are estimated at almost $200 million province-wide, with much of this cost related to investments required to repair provincial and municipal transportation infrastructure assets.
Throughout the flood, contractors were hard at work supporting dike construction and removal; completing emergency repairs on bridges, highways and other critical infrastructure; and taking on other unplanned work that resulted from major flooding in many parts of the province. Manitoba sincerely appreciates the dedication and commitment to the safety of Manitobans that you all demonstrated in a time of need.
The government is also thankful for the feedback and continuous cooperation between the department and the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association. We look forward to ongoing discussion through a recently established working group between the department’s Infrastructure and Capital Projects division and the Association, and ongoing industry collaboration to strengthen, invest and build on the provinces infrastructure.
The Manitoba Infrastructure Projects Map is available online at
https://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/mipmap/index.html
The 2022 Multi-Year Highways Investment Strategy is available online at
https://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/myhis/pdf/multi-year_highways_investment_strategy.pdf.
Advertising Schedules and other information on Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure tenders can be found at https://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/contracts/index.html.
