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A delay in the start of major work on Ste-Catherine St. is a sign the renewal project will end up late and over-budget, city hall opposition leader Lionel Perez said Friday.

“There’s no doubt that costs will increase and I don’t see how they’re going to be able to respect the 2021 timeline,” he said.

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“When they announced they were going to review the design, we raised the flag that this was going to cost more money and cause additional delays, and we see that happening.”

Late Thursday, less than a month after Mayor Valérie Plante unveiled her vision for the downtown commercial strip, the city quietly announced that major work that was supposed to start this summer will actually begin in January.

The city posted a notice on a web page about the project that said the delay was due to coordination work with other downtown projects such as the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light rail system, and the fact that the only bidder on the contract did not comply with guidelines.