Dear Editor: Numbers, Please

Why do we in Sydney have to settle for second best?

We have consultations on projects but recommendations are ignored without much, if any, published analysis. Outrageously exaggerated costs are often quoted to justify inaction. Take the costs of installing buried power lines on Charlotte Street.
I have not seen any written estimates for this work. I doubt that any were even sought.

The corner of Spring Garden Road and Brenton Street with the streetscape complete. (Source: HRM)

The main argument I have read from NSPI is that burying distribution lines is 10 times the cost of overhead. That is a worst-case scenario when blasting though rock is necessary. A story carried by CBC in 2019 about Sweden’s experience of burying lines actually cost three to five times more.

To obtain a more accurate cost in Nova Scotia, let us see the actual costs incurred installing power lines underground on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, which was completed recently. That will give us very accurate estimate. I challenge our political representatives to obtain this information and publish it.

Bill Roberts
Sydney