Bowden will benefit from more than $3-million in federal and provincial stimulus funding.
Local federal, provincial and municipal politicians were in Bowden on Saturday to announce that the provincial and federal governments would split the $2 million cost towards improving Hwy 2 around Bowden and that the federal, provincial and municipal governments would share in a three-way split of the $1.9 million cost to improve sanitary and water systems.
“Overall the project is great. It not only addresses our local infrastructure needs, it also stimulates jobs so it is a win-win for everybody,” said Cody Berggren, the mayor of Bowden.
The waste water project has been on the top of the list of capital plans for five years, but Berggren said in a town of just 1,200 they didn’t have the money to move forward with the project until now.
Many of the sewer lines are made of old-style clay pipe that tends to crack, forcing the town to deal with water breaks and allowing storm water into the waste water system. It has mean the municipality has had to treat more water than would be necessary otherwise, which becomes a particular problem during wet times of the year. The funding will allow the town to replace the pipe with new plastic piping that will no longer let the stormwater into the system.
Hwy 2 will be repaved from south of the junction with Hwy 2A to south of the Town of Bowden.
The projects are two of the 156 across the province that will break ground soon as part of federal and provincial investment of more than $440 million.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com