(file photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Project planning

City awards another contract for Primary Sanitary Sewer Trunk Upgrade project

Jun 7, 2021 | 9:57 AM

The City of North Battleford awarded another contract for its Primary Sanitary Sewer Trunk Upgrade project at its recent meeting.

Council approved a recommendation to accept the revised bid from Con-Tech General Contractors Ltd. for the construction of the sewage force main pumping station (Contract 1) for $6,405,493 including PST, plus GST. Con-Tech’s bid was the lowest of five tenders received.

The revised bid is lower than Con-Tech’s original bid of $6,495,362 including PST, plus GST.

AECOM Canada Ltd., the Sanitary Sewer Upgrade project engineer, worked with Con-Tech to bring the cost down from the original bid by $84,782 plus taxes, through substituting or removing some items where possible from the details of the work.

The cost for Contract 2 for the construction of the sanitary sewer force main and sewer trunk lining previously awarded to Hamm Construction Ltd. before-taxes rate came in under the estimate since the firm had pipe available in its supply it could use. This helped reduce the cost. The AECOM Canada Ltd. estimate for Contract 2 was $8.5 million. The bid came in at $8.4 million, plus PST of $505,382, which in total amounts to $8.9 million including PST, plus GST.

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The higher costs for Contract 1 reflect increased construction costs compared to originally estimated. At the time of tendering, AECOM Canada Ltd. estimated the sewage pumping station work would cost $3.8 million. The bid received at $6.4 million, was $2.6 million over the estimate.

Administration reported, as noted by AECOM Canada Ltd. and KGS Group, the Primary Sanitary Sewer Trunk Upgrade project manager, there were unexpected costs not included in the 2019 budget estimate that have increased the total cost for the sanitary force main project.

Coun. Greg Lightfoot said even though he is not happy about the overages, he recognizes the need for the project to continue to be able to expand the community.

“We have a problem with our sewer pipes in that area,” he said. “If we don’t fix it, our development could be delayed due to that. So I don’t think we have a whole lot of choices.”

The current total estimate for the full project is now $16.7 million.

Mayor David Gillan recognizes construction costs have increased.

“When we go over-budget, it’s never comfortable, and it’s not what we would like to see. But sometimes things happen outside of our control,” he said. “So I fully understand that.”

The federal and provincial governments are each contributing one-third of the funding based on the original estimate of roughly $13.65 million for the project, through the New Building Canada Fund Program. The city is responsible for its share plus any overages from increased costs.

With about $9 million in total coming from the federal and provincial governments, that leaves around $7.5 million left for the city to cover, for the now roughly $16.5 million project tally.

Gillan wants to see how the city will find the difference in the cost.

“I would like to know where the $7.5 million is going to come from,” he said, adding this will need to be looked at later.

City Manager Randy Patrick said administration will bring some information to council on the issue for a future discussion.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow