QUÉBEC CITY, June 18, 2020/CNW Telbec/ - The Québec Port Authority ("QPA") is pleased to announce, in the wake of the Laurentia project, a significant investment to improve facilities in Beauport Bay. This project is the result of a concerted and collaborative effort with the members of the Forum des usagers de la baie de Beauport ("The Forum"). With this investment, which includes an improvement in the services offered, the QPA wishes to reiterate the recreational and tourist vocation of the Beauport Bay.
Mindful of some of the effects caused by the future infrastructure of its container terminal on the Beauport Bay site, the QPA decided to turn these constraints into opportunities by suggesting an upgrade to the site's layout that will better meet the needs of its users. Designed by experts from Stantec, in co-creation with the members of the Forum, QPA thus commits to carrying out a development plan to mitigate the impacts of the Laurentia project while improving the quality of the infrastructures that allow for nautical activities, notably with the addition of a boat launch ramp, an expanded boat parking area, a new harbour master's office, space for a sailing school, a new boating safety lookout, and additional wharves. All of these new facilities hold great potential for the continued development of the recreational boating component of the Beauport Bay.
A priceless collaborative effort
The site's improvement plan results from valuable consultation and collaboration with the Forum. This Forum, created in 2016 by the QPA, aims to better understand the different uses of the Beauport Bay in order to take them into account in the expansion project and, more specifically, to consolidate and perpetuate the beach and its uses. This collaboration between the various organizations and the QPA will continue to ensure ongoing improvement efforts.
A bay designed for citizens
Among the effects of its container terminal project, the QPA identified those on the quality of winds coming from the west southwest that will interfere with sailing activities. Consequently, the QPA will proceed to buoy up the sector, to provide a map guiding users and to raise their awareness beforehand, thus offering them a better experience on the St. Lawrence River. Moreover, the QPA ensures that the site manager, in this case Gestev, in conjunction with the groups present on the site, will offer training to users through courses offered by the sailing school.
Always aiming to offer an optimal citizen space with a complete recreational and touristic vocation, the plan foresees a brand-new water play area as well as an urban wading pool for children, pergolas for users and mobi-mat type mats for people with reduced mobility. This is the only site in Québec City where citizens can swim in the St. Lawrence River in complete safety, thanks to the good water quality regularly monitored by the City of Québec.
The work will follow Laurentia's schedule. The work is scheduled to begin in 2021 and end in 2024, allowing users to take advantage of the new facilities as early as the 2024 season. Note that QPA confirms the Beauport Bay site will remain open and accessible and users will be able to continue to practice their sport during the construction period. The cost of this work amounts to a little more than 7M$ and will be entirely paid by the QPA.
Quotes
"The Beauport Bay redevelopment project reflects a very important collaborative work made possible by the Forum des usagers de la baie de Beauport. We sincerely thank all the organizations involved in this collaboration. This is a project for citizens, and we are pleased to provide them with a very attractive recreational and touristic space in an area like the Port of Québec."
- Mario Girard, President and CEO, Québec Port Authority
About the Forum:
The Forum consists of representatives of organizations that volunteer their time:
- Regroupement des membres de voile légère,
- Association des véliplanchistes et kitesurfers de Québec,
- Club des ornithologues de Québec,
- Association régionale de loisir pour personnes handicapées de la Capitale-Nationale,
- Club nautique du Vieux-Port de Québec
- In addition to Gestev and City of Québec.
It should be noted that the Forum's mandate is exclusively focused on the consolidation and perpetuation of the beach and its recreational and tourist uses. The Forum's mandate is not to take a position on the Laurentia project.
About the Québec Port Authority
The Québec Port Authority is an arm's-length federal agency constituted under the Canada Marine Act. The ships that pass through the Port are central to a supply chain that carries approximately $20 billion in goods each year. The Port of Québec powers a maritime cluster that generates and supports over 13,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the latest KPMG/SECOR study.
SOURCE Administration portuaire de Québec
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Julie Turmel, Communication Agent, Québec Port Authority, 418 648-3640, julie.turmel@portquebec.caCopyright CNW Group 2020