Construction delays continue at sewer plants
After delays, cost overruns and “shoddy work” in the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Niagara- on- the- Lake, another treatment plant in Welland under construction by the same contractor is now falling behind schedule, too.
And the delays are costing the Niagara Region about $ 800,000 more than anticipated.
While approving the additional expenditures at Tuesday’s public works committee, councillors were concerned that the Region’s procurement process awarded contracts for both projects to the same company - Concord- based Varcon Construction.
“How can we protect against shoddy work?” asked St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik.
“If we experience these types of issues with a company … is there a mechanism in which we’re able to at least create a category that would flag these type of issues because this would be a concern to me as an individual, as a board member that a company like this would continue to get further work when they’ve shown that there’s a significant potential deficiency in their ability to follow through.”
A report on the $ 20- million project underway in Welland recommended spending an additional $ 416,463 to pay Cole Engineering to extend its oversight of the work, that is now unlikely to be completed by the mid- August deadline.
The report says Varcon has refused to sign a change order that includes a scheduled completion date of Aug. 17, and instead submitted a revised schedule further delaying the completion date until Sept. 24 – which the Region has not accepted.
The report, presented by public works commissioner Ron Tripp, says regional “staff continue to have concerns regarding the timely completion of this project.”
“Varcon is falling behind on some of the major components of the construction project and this is reflected in their revised contract completion date.”
Meanwhile, a second report on the Niagara- on- the- Lake wastewater treatment plant requested an increase of $ 400,000 to its $ 36- million budget, to address deficiencies identified after it was initially completed a year ago.
The report says those deficiencies included large amounts of cement coating peeling from concrete tanks, as well as leaks in the concrete and walls, determined to be the result of “poor application, inadequate surface preparation, thickness below specified and areas where the coating was applied over top of dust, mud and other debris.”
Although the Region’s response to the deficiencies found in NOTL project were “reactive,” Tripp said the approach to the project in Welland was “very proactive in terms of deficiencies identified instantaneously and rejected immediately and dealt with prior to proceeding on with construction.”
“We are not going to accept inferior. It, as I’ve said before, is going to be a painful process to get to the end of the project. But we will not accept inferior product or workmanship in the case of Welland.”
Tripp said the scrutiny is contributing to the challenge of meeting construction deadlines, “but we are simply not going to accept unsatisfactory.”
Kam Gandhi, Varcon’s project manager for the wastewater plant in Welland, however, objected to the reference to “shoddy workmanship.”
“I don’t think my workmanship is shoddy,” he said.
Gandhi said the company’s CEO Vito Riccio is currently on vacation, adding he would be better able to discuss the concerns raised by regional councillors.
Nevertheless, Gandhi said the delays are related to the complexity of the work being done, as well as numerous change orders.
While the Region’s report said 154 change orders were issued regarding the NOTL – many of them associated with archeological assessments, Gandhi said the Welland project is currently about 60 per cent complete and there are already 70 or 80 change orders associated with it.
And each of those changes adds time to the project.
“There are further changes under discussion,” he said.
Gandhi said assigning more workers to the project would not speed up the completion.
“We cannot have people just doing nothing,” he said, adding there are an average of about 25 people working at the Welland site daily.
In light of the recent issues, Tripp said Niagara’s procurement advisory committee is reviewing the Region’s policies regarding assessing the performance of contractors.
“We’re actually making great strides in terms of tightening up that system,” Tripp said.
For instance, he said “this particular vendor” didn’t make it through a pre- qualification process for a recent contract for rehabilitation of a water treatment plant in Fort Erie.
“Can I offer some free legal advice?” asked Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop – a lawyer by trade. “Get some outside counsel on this.”
Redekop doubted the Welland project would be done on deadline.
“Looking at the progress to date, it’s inescapable that this is not going to be done in August, and probably not even September,” he said. “What happens if this project goes on and on.”
While Tripp said the targets are achievable if the contractor provides adequate resources, Redekop said he doubts if that will be the case.
“Based on past history it’s unlikely these targets are going to be hit.”
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati agreed with Redekop’s advice regarding seeking outside legal counsel.
“Since this group is not meeting their milestones, it doesn’t look like they’re going to be meeting their milestones, at what point do we cut bait? Because it seems to me that it’s not going in the right direction,” Diodati said.
Tripp said the “vast majority” of projects are on time and budget resulting in cost savings for the Region, but “it’s unfortunate that we have these exceptional circumstances that are the subject of discussion with the committee.”