$272M sewage plant contract awarded
Board chooses consortium picked for scuttled 2014 job to build McLoughlin project — for another $37 million
The contract to build the McLoughlin Point sewage-treatment plant has been awarded to the same consortium that was selected for the job in 2014, before that project collapsed. And it will cost another $37 million. Harbour Resource Partners, which includes AECOM Canada, Graham Infrastructure and Michels Canada, will be working on a $272-million contract — part of the overall $765-million initiative to have treated sewage by the end of 2020.
With changes such as the addition of tertiary treatment, this year’s HRP proposal costs more than the one submitted three years ago.
Tertiary treatment removes more solids than secondary treatment and most contaminants. The water produced could be used for landscaping or industrial purposes.
The HRP job also includes installation of a cross-harbour, undersea pipe between Ogden Point and McLoughlin Point and an outfall for treated wastewater at McLoughlin Point.
The contract contains requirements to control odour and noise during construction and when the plant is in operation.
In addition to the McLoughlin contract, the massive project includes a system for treating residual substances at the Hartland landfill, a conveyance system to take wastewater from core communities to the plant, and pump-station upgrades.
“Together that’s the whole project, but the wastewater-treatment plant is a big piece of it, said Jane Bird, chairwoman of the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project Board. “There are a series of other contracts to follow.”
The board is a panel given control of sewage-treatment planning last spring by B.C. Community Minister Peter Fassbender.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, chairwoman of the Capital Regional District sewage committee, said HRP was the top bidder in 2014, but never signed a contract because the project didn’t move forward after Esquimalt council refused to allow necessary zoning variances.
“The project board, instead of starting the procurement process over again, determined that because the site was the same and some of the specs were the same, that they didn’t have to go back out to the market.”
Negotiations with HRP have been conducted over the past four or five months, Helps said.
She said work will start this month, but not until two public-information meetings on the project have been held. One was on Wednesday at the Hotel Grand Pacific and the other is set for April 12, from 5-8 p.m., at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Esquimalt branch.
A group of people troubled by issues such as odour and noise held a separate meeting last week and expressed concern that some of the sewage-line work could destabilize the Dallas Road bluffs.
Initial work is likely to consist of site layout at McLoughlin Point, followed by preparations at Ogden Point.