Paradox obscure government agency costs taxpayers nearly 28 million dollars

“Creating the Bureau de la modernisation des CHU to oversee the P3’s cost overruns, is either an oxymoron and a waste of money, or the taxpayers were mislead.” Fernandes.

An “obscure government agency”, Bureau de la modernisation des CHU, established in 2005 under the Charest government and its Health minister Philippe Couillard has cost taxpayers nearly $28 million.
The mandate of the agency is to monitor and control cost overruns in the construction of Quebec superhospitals.
Patient-rights advocate Paul Brunet, noted that two of the three hospital projects were conceived as public-private partnerships (P3s) — a mode of financing that is supposed to transfer entirely the risk of cost overruns from the government to the private sector,….

“…the bureau didn’t seem to have prevented any of the financial problems associated with the MUHC project”. Brunet, of the Conseil pour la protection des malades.

Originally the government promised the cost of building the MUHC superhospital would not exceed $1 billion, with the same spending cap for the CHUM superhospital.
The total price tag of the CHUM superhospital comes to nearly $3.1 billion and for the MUHC, although officials have often cited the figure of $1.3 billion, the real cost for the full redevelopment will rise to $2.463 billion.
Manuel Fernandes, president interim for the MUHC CSN employees, noted that the PPP’s were sold to the Quebec taxpayer, as a guarantee the cost overruns would be the responsibility of the private sector. Now we find the taxpayers paying nearly $28 million dollars for a bureau to control the costs overruns of the private ‘builder’ who themselves are responsible for their cost overruns.”
Sources:
MONTREAL GAZETTE
LE JOURNAL DE MONTRÉAL