LIBERALS PUT SQUEEZE ON MASSEY TIMELINE
Premier will get hard-hat moment even if other details remain murky
The latest news on the plan to replace the Massey tunnel with a 10-lane bridge sees the B.C. Liberals in a bit of scramble to get the multibillion-dollar project underway before the provincial election.
“Province seeking qualified firms for Massey replacement,” said the headline on the press release Tuesday, atop news that the government was asking would-be builders to step forward in fairly short order.
The first and only scheduled information meeting is July 7, according to the official request for qualifications (RFQ). Prospective respondents will then have until Aug. 3, just under a month, to assemble their bona fides and make their submissions.
This for a project that entails designing and building a high-level 10-lane bridge over the Fraser River between Delta and Richmond, widening 24 kilometres of adjacent freeway to include HOV lanes, and then removing the existing four-lane tunnel so as to eliminate one obstruction for deep-draft vessels entering the river.
Respondents to the RFQ also have to demonstrate an ability to operate and maintain the bridge over 30 years, as well as put up $750 million as their share of project financing during the construction phase.
And to underscore the tightness of the time frame, consider that the government itself missed the deadline for delivering the business plan for the project by 18 months, promising it would be released in the spring of 2014, not actually publishing it until the end of last year.
Nor does the time squeeze end with submissions. The documentation released Tuesday indicates that the government intends to winnow the qualified bidders down to three within another six weeks or so, then begin the detailed back and forth on technical, financial and other considerations on the 30-year concession agreement.
The list will be winnowed to a preferred bidder in the spring of 2017, with the two dropped bidders being in line for $2 million in compensation for their troubles. Target date for signing off on the deal is summer 2017.
The latter date appears contrary to the political timetable set down by Premier Christy Clark when she announced the replacement plan for the tunnel following the last election.
Her stated intention was to have construction underway before British Columbians went back to the polls in May 2017, a goal the Liberals have restated more than once.
“Construction will begin on schedule in early 2017,” Transportation Minister Todd Stone told reporters (twice) at last December’s release of the project business plan.
With the government not slated to sign off on the deal with the prospective designer and builder until at least a month or two after the election, I wondered what that would do to the Liberal vow to get a start on construction beforehand.
Not to worry, I was assured by a government representative. The ministry itself will be engaged in enough site preparation and other work to qualify as a start on construction. So the premier will have her hard hat moment. That, at least, one can take to the bank.
Other aspects of the project are more murky. The Liberals continue to tout the cost at $3.5 billion, but have provided no breakdowns. The bridge will surely be tolled, same as the Port Mann, and the government estimates that maybe 11,000 vehicles a day will divert to the Alex Fraser Bridge to avoid paying.
But remembering how badly the government underestimated toll avoidance, traffic diversions and the break-even point on the Port Mann (the latter by a dozen years), it would be nice to have more in-depth points of comparison for the Massey replacement.
Perhaps those who enter the bidding process will have a better idea. For “a restricted access data website with background data relating to the project is available” to those who sign the requisite confidentiality agreement.
What sorts of things will the government be sharing with prospective builders that it won’t be sharing with the public? Mainly information on access points to the tunnel and other matters best kept secure, I was told. Those respondents who do gain access to the restricted website are sternly cautioned not to share anything with those not on the inside.
“Respondents are not to communicate, including by media releases, web or social media postings, or interviews, and are to ensure their team members, including their respective contractors, subcontractors, directors, officers, employees, consultants, advisers, representatives and agents, and all other persons associated with any of them, do not communicate, in respect of any part or parts of the project or the competitive selection process, with the media or the public unless the prior written consent is obtained.”
If any reporter even asks for an interview, “respondents are to promptly notify the Transportation Financing Authority,” that being the provincial Crown corporation overseeing the project.
Otherwise the request for qualifications mainly sets out the information that has to be included in those submissions due Aug. 3, along with standard cautions against conflict of interest, lobbying, and collusion.
There’s also a boilerplate warning that the government reserves the right to make last-minute changes or walk away from the project altogether. Which is about as likely as Christy Clark announcing she’s having second thoughts about Site C.
As for calls from those stung by the TransLink referendum for the Massey replacement to be put to a vote, there is one of those on the schedule for May 9, 2017. Meaning, of course, the ultimate referendum, a provincial election.
The Liberals continue to tout the cost (of the Massey project) at $3.5 billion, but have provided no breakdowns.