The Selinger government has quietly signed a multimillion-dollar deal just weeks before next month's provincial election to build a road from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the Trans-Canada Highway.

Despite concerns about rapidly increasing costs, including the use of an expensive provincial government agency to administer the project, a so-called community benefits agreement (CBA) to build the 24-km gravel road was signed two weeks ago, the CEO of the East Side Road Authority has confirmed.

The three levels of government agreed last year to build the roadway, dubbed Freedom Road, and to share equally in its cost. However, that cost has since ballooned, as the Winnipeg Sun exposed earlier this month. The estimated price tag as recently as December was pegged at $30 million. But the project cost jumped 55% almost overnight to $46.5 million after the Selinger government announced the road would be built by ESRA.

The authority is the same agency created by the NDP that's building all-weather roads for 13 First Nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. It's a large bureaucracy that employs some 80 people with an annual operating cost of $11 million and occupies expensive office space at 155 Carlton.

Ernie Gilroy, the agency's CEO, confirmed ESRA inked a deal with Shoal Lake 40 on March 9. "The CBA is for $46.5 million with the province committing to $15.5 (million) subject to matching funding from Winnipeg and Canada," Gilroy wrote in an email when asked about the contract. ESRA couldn't announce the deal because the province is under a 90-day election black-out period.

Gilroy says the contract also links to a tripartite economic development agreement signed by the province, the City of Winnipeg and Shoal Lake 40 First Nation in 1989. It's unclear what that means, except that the project cost will go well beyond simply building a road and two required bridges for the isolated community. There will be a lot of add-ons that relate to the 1989 agreement which have yet to be disclosed.

The rush to sign this agreement prior to the election is obvious. The Selinger government is attempting to tie the hands of a future government should they get booted from office next month. It's the same reason ESRA rushed to sign four other CBAs worth nearly $56 million over the past two months with individual First Nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

The Opposition Tories have said if elected they will eliminate ESRA, fold its operations under the province's Department of Infrastructure and Transportation and tender out all road construction projects. Under ESRA, not all road work goes to tender.

There are some serious problems with the Shoal Lake 40 deal. For starters, proposed legislation to give ESRA the legal authority to build Freedom Road was never enacted. The bill to do so died on the order paper when the election was called. Secondly, neither the city of Winnipeg nor the federal government has agreed to increase its share of funding by an additional $5.5 million. The extra funding was not in the federal Liberal budget this past week. And a plea at city hall by Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) -- the daughter of Ernie Gilroy -- to increase the city's share of funding to $15.5 million was rebuffed by Mayor Brian Bowman.

ESRA says the cost of Freedom Road has increased for a number of reasons, including a decision to go with a rock-based subgrade instead of a sand-filled one, higher bridge costs and administration fees Gilroy says were not included in the original estimate.

However, before any other level of government commits more money to this road, there should be a complete review of the costs to see why the price tag has really shot up this much.

Build the road if that's the best way to connect the community to the highway. But let's not allow politicians to give a government agency a blank cheque to do it.