Mayor John Tory says he is “furious” about anticipated cost overruns relating to the York-Spadina subway extension.
Speaking to reporters Friday afternoon, Tory said he does not know exactly how much more cash will be needed to finish the job but TTC CEO Andy Byford previously informed the mayor that the project would likely see “more cost overruns and more delays.”
“I will be blunt with you, I was extremely unhappy,” Tory said at the news conference Friday.
A report published in The Toronto Star Friday suggests that an additional $400 million will be required to complete the project - however TTC chair Josh Colle said a number has not yet been agreed upon.
“There is a number that is being bandied about. Any investment that is made in this is a decision that will have to be made by the commission and council,” he said.
“To suggest that there is some number out there that it has gone over budget is not accurate.”
The current budget for the six-stop subway extension, which will run from Downsview Station to York University and into Vaughan, sits at around $2.6 billion, a figure that is about a $1 billion higher than the initial estimate.
The project was supposed to be completed by 2015 but officials have since pushed back that date to the fall of 2016.
“Today we are talking about the York-Spadina subway but the fact is over the years we have lurched from one fiasco to another, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars and just as important, delaying the day we get desperately needed transit in to service to move people,” Tory said.
“Suffice it to say, alongside the people of Toronto, I am furious that this happens, over and over again on the city’s watch.”
Tory said he believes the problem stems from “an entrenched culture of non-accountability at city hall.”
“Today, beyond saying I’m very angry about this and these latest emerging details, which are not yet finalized on the York-Spadina subway, I am also saying it is enough. We can’t go on this way,” he said.
Tory vowed to examine all “plausible options” to get the project finished as soon as possible at the lowest possible cost.
“With respect to the York-Spadina subway in particular, as mayor, I will be looking to work with chair Colle and CEO Andy Byford to take this project, which I inherited 12 weeks ago, and find a way to stop the bleeding,” he said.
Colle, who echoed Tory’s disappointment Friday, is calling for an independent third-party audit of all of the TTC’s capital projects.
“In specific reference to the Toronto York-Spadina subway extension, I think everybody knows that it has been a project that has had problems almost since its inception,” he said.
“As I have taken to this position and this new role, as you peel back the onion around our capital projects, you do see what looks to be quite an alarming trend.”
Potential cost implications and delays will be detailed in a report on the project, which is slated to be released on March 26.
