Future of Project Ojibwa at a critical juncture

I have not posted in a while because I wanted to see how things played out regarding the Ojibwa. The federal funding for the sub was extended to the end of October which had taken the project off life support. The biggest issue that stands in the way of the sub now is the matter of dredging. There are only certain times that you can dredge and of course the municipality is trying to decide if they should purchase a dredge or contract out the dredging. The bottom line is that someone still needs to pay for this to take place.

Here are the numbers according council minutes from May 5th "A required dredging depth of 10’ wide for a full 60’ width has been confirmed. This amounts to over 60,000 cubic meters of dredging material being moved at a cost of $23 to $24 per cubic meter." This would be a cost of $1.4 million, this is money separate from the federal grant of $1.9 million that would just move the sub. The cost to purchase a dredge was around $650 - $700k, not sure if other expenses would be incurred or if that particular dredge could do the job of removing 60,000 cubic meters in a timely manner.

The big question is who will pay the $1.4 million? Is it fair that the tax payers of Bayham should take on this risk for a project that may or may not work? I have heard all along that this will be a great success, however how do we really know this is true. The museum should probably offer to help pay for some of this dredging if they want to see this through. It is my understanding they are in the process of raising money for this project, perhaps that can help pay for this. I think it would be a tough sell to ask Bayham taxpayer to bear the brunt of the cost for something that is still very uncertain.

There is a special meeting May 31st regarding the Ojibwa, I hope some of these questions can be answered. If the cost of dredging is $1.4 million that would be a cost of about $205 per resident (not per household) assuming there are about 7,000 people in Bayham. The Elgin Military Museum ought to do the right thing and put in some money for the dredging to be fair to the Bayham taxpayer.