Good morning. My name is Dale Harvey. I am currently the assistant executive director for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, more commonly known as SARM. On November 1 of this year, I'll be taking over the duties of executive director.
President Marit sends his regrets on being unable to make this presentation on behalf of SARM. He is currently making a presentation to the Standing Committee on Finance as part of the pre-budget consultations.
I'd like to begin by thanking the standing committee for inviting us here to share our thoughts on the stimulus funding and the project completion deadline. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to make representations on behalf of SARM and rural Saskatchewan. SARM represents all 296 rural municipalities--commonly known as RMs--in the province of Saskatchewan and acts as the common voice of rural Saskatchewan. All members belong to SARM on a voluntary basis.
We'd like to thank the federal government for the funds provided to Saskatchewan's rural municipalities through the stimulus programs. The funding assisted with various types of projects, such as local road and bridge construction, arena upgrades, water facility upgrades, and lagoon expansions. These projects have provided work for many people in the province and have provided a boost to the local economy.
The majority of the funding allocated to rural Saskatchewan went to local road and bridge infrastructure projects. Local road and bridge infrastructure is vital to Saskatchewan's commerce and industry. As a landlocked province, we have very few transportation options. The province's economy is very much commodity- and export-driven, with agricultural products, potash, and oil and gas being major players. These commodities and resources are almost exclusively located in rural areas and utilize rural municipal road systems to reach their markets.
In 2008, Associated Engineering reported that approximately $567 million over the next 15 years would be required to repair and replace the rural bridge system. In 2009, the AECOM engineering firm reported that approximately $225 million per year would be required to maintain and replace 130,000 kilometres of rural gravel roads.
It's estimated that in order for RMs to fully fund roads and bridges, an additional $389 million would need to be levied from the RM tax base annually. With the expanding economy, these numbers are only going to increase. Rural municipalities do not have the ability to finance this infrastructure by themselves. The continued assistance of provincial and federal governments is vital and very much appreciated.
As you most likely have heard, this past spring and summer in Saskatchewan have been exceptionally wet--not at all ideal for constructing infrastructure. This has delayed many projects that in a normal year would have been finished by now. As well, because of our severe winters, the construction season is short. It's basically from April to October.
We've been monitoring the progress of the stimulus-funded projects throughout the year and we did another survey last week. Because of the recent dry and warm weather we've been experiencing, very good progress has been made on many of the projects not yet completed. We are optimistic that most projects, if not all, will be complete by the deadline. However, there is no guarantee, as we are at the mercy of the weather.
Given this, we support an extension of the deadline for specific projects that cannot be completed due to factors such as weather, and we hope to hear of this announcement in the near future, rather than right before the deadline. SARM will continue to update the committee on the progress of the projects in rural Saskatchewan as they approach the March 2011 deadline.
Thank you again for the opportunity to present before you today.
Mr. Chair, I'm happy to respond to any questions the committee may have.