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Investments of $2.5M for Runway Repairs |
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A $2.5 million investment for emergency repairs to the Sherbrooke Airport runway will be made by the City of Sherbrooke. About two thirds of this will be subsidized, leaving $830,000 required to pay the balance of the cost. The Municipal Council does not want to have to cover this amount alone. 
COURTESY: AIRLINERS.NET The CYSC
“We are ready to assume $400,000 or $500,000 of the cost, but the rest must come from elsewhere,” said Pierre Boisvert, President of the Development Corporation of the Sherbrooke Airport. “This is a huge financial investment for the City of Sherbrooke and we can’t do it by ourselves.”
Boisvert, a municipal councilor for the Mont-Bellevue borough, stated that the institutions and businesses that use the regional airport will be solicited, as well as some of the municipal politicians from the surrounding area.
There was already a plan to resurface the airport runway scheduled for 2011 or 2012; in time for the Canada Summer games which are being hosted by Sherbrooke in 2013. But after a visual inspection by Transport Canada conducted on May 20th revealed cracks in the runway that were deemed potentially unsafe, the repairs were moved up.
Two days after their inspection, Transport Canada released a warning to pilots about the runway conditions at Sherbrooke Airport. Boisvert was unsure whether the airport was experiencing less air traffic than normal since the warning was released.
In an effort to avoid a potential shutdown of the entire airport by Transport Canada, the City of Sherbrooke Council decided immediate repairs were required. The City will also devote $50,000-a-year for any further repairs that may be needed.
The City of Sherbrooke has time to find some funding partners, as the work is not scheduled to begin until next spring.
At present, the City of Sherbrooke covers the entire cost of running and maintaining the airport, a bill that runs about $300,000 per year.By Doug McCooeye 2009-08-19 |
Montreal Canadiens
