THUNDER BAY -- The city has released its infrastructure priority list and projects that are ineligible for existing infrastructure programs account for more than three quarters of its financial wishes.
Among the $323-million wish list, the category labelled "unfunded strategic and critical infrastructure priorities" includes $250 million worth of projects.
The most expensive item on the list of orphan plans is the proposed $115-million Thunder Bay Event and Convention Centre. The Northwest Arterial Road follows at $40 million, waterfront development is listed at $38 million and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery's move to the waterfront at another $30 million.
City infrastructure and operations manager Kerri Marshall said the federal and provincial governments will announce new rounds of infrastructure funds in the future and Thunder Bay wants to offer its ideas on items it would like to see qualify.
"At this time, we do not know what the eligibility funding will be so we hope to be able to provide this information to the province and hope it will inform the eligibility criteria and let them know, from the city's perspective, here are some of our needs."
Westfort Coun. Joe Virdiramo is the chairman of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. He used the example of the decades-long political fight to twin Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon as he illustrated council's resolve to stand behind the need for the local event centre.
"Right now there is no current funding that will fund that specific event centre in the way it has been developed," he said.
"They are spending money on arenas in different categories but we still have it on our list in the event that something will come forward or in the event that there is some private funding, the P3s where private public partnerships, could become available."
The report that will appear before city council on Monday identifies a $24.2-million annual infrastructure funding gap, which city staff says is needed "to renew existing roads, bridges, culverts, water, wastewater, storm water networks, sidewalks, facilities and fleet in the City of Thunder Bay."
It also lists projects that could qualify under existing infrastructure programs, including $12.6-million for public transit, $19.6 million for green infrastructure including storm water, and $40.7 million for social infrastructure, which is is topped by a combined $16 million in recreational and field redevelopment.
