The British Columbia authority has suspended the RFQ process while it awaits direction from the Mayors’ Council and the TransLink Board. The suspension of the RFQ launched in September was in light of a resolution passed by the City of Surrey council to cancel the design-build-finance project.
The Mayors’ Council in its 10-Year Vision on Metro Vancouver Transit and Transportation has committed to building 27km of rapid transit connecting Surrey Centre with Langley, Guildford and Newton as part its “Phase Two” and “Phase Three” Investment Plans. The next Mayors’ Council meeting is on November 15.
Mayor Doug McCallum and the new members of Surrey City Council officially took the Oath of Office at an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday at City Hall. Immediately after being sworn into office, the city council convened a regular council meeting where a motion was introduced and passed to cancel the Surrey Newton Guildford LRT project and to begin work on extending the existing SkyTrain network in Surrey from King George Station to Langley City.
The council also approved a motion to start work on creating a Surrey Police Department and serve notice to the federal and provincial governments that the City of Surrey will be terminating its contract with the RCMP municipal police service.
“What City Council has done is immediately deliver on the wishes of the people of Surrey,” said Mayor Doug McCallum.
“It was very clear to me that with all the people I spoke to and heard from that SkyTrain and Surrey establishing its own municipal police force are what is best for our city. As the elected representatives of the citizens of Surrey, we are delivering not just what we promised to do, but we are acting on what the people have said would be best for their city.”
SkyTrain consists of three lines with the third line, the Canada Line, operated under a P3 contract by an SNC-Lavalin-led concessionaire.