The Canadian Infrastructure Report Card (CIRC) – an objective assessment of the water, wastewater, stormwater, and road infrastructure owned by Canadian municipalities – has released its 2014 Asset Management Primer.
The primer outlines the importance of municipal Asset Management Plans in effectively addressing Canada’s infrastructure challenge, puts forward a number of key recommendations for municipalities across the country, and provides an outline for municipalities looking to institute an Asset Management Plan of their own.
“The Primer was needed to further the practice of asset management in Canada so that we can continue to improve on the quality of the reporting through the CIRC,” said Alain Gonthier, manager of asset management, business and technical services with the City of Ottawa. “We hope that municipalities and other public sector organizations will view it as a positive step to improve the alignment of asset management in Canada. There is often a misconception that asset management is too complex or just an engineering and financial related issue. In fact, it is essential so that we can continue to sustain quality services to our communities.”
Some of the key points mentioned in the primer include:
- The importance of investment in Canada’s roads, bridges, and water, wastewater, and stormwater systems.
- Understanding the condition and costs of maintaining municipal assets is central to addressing the challenging infrastructure situation nationwide.
- The need for municipalities to be on the same page in terms of asset management. Relevant and realistic benchmarks and consistent comparisons are necessary in moving towards a standardized condition grading system across Canada.
- Asset management is a tool that can help align strategic planning at a municipal level with the value that stakeholders and residents place on the functionality of infrastructure and reliability of services.
The 2014 Asset Management Primer was released in preparation for the 2015 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card.
