Sechelt's wastewater treatment project coordinator Paul Nash gave the first of what he hopes will be regular updates on the project during Sechelt's May 15 regular council meeting.
"My idea is to give these as regularly as council desires, but I was thinking every couple of months to actually do a public session update on what is going on," Nash said. "Obviously there's lots of public interest in this project, so I think it's a prudent time to be doing just that."
He gave a status update on the project saying the preliminary design is complete, the detailed designs are being finalized and that public works has now been completely removed from the Ebbtide site.
"Maple Reinders will be getting mobilized at the end of May, early June to start site prep and construction proper, meaning digging and concrete will happen middle and late June, and of course we expect to be completed in the fall of next year," Nash said.
He laid out the project's total cost at $25 million, saying the contract price for the new treatment plant is $21.3 million, the PST will cost about $800,000 and there is a half million dollar contingency fund. He also pointed to $1 million that was spent on the project between 2011 and 2012 for things like drafting the request for proposals and hiring technical consultants and another $1.3 million earmarked for more consultants, project management and relocating public works between 2013 and 2014.
Other costs released were the capital costs of the five bids that came in to build a new treatment plant. While the types of treatment projects and names of companies that pitched ideas were withheld, Nash showed the lowest bid came in at $18.1 million while the most expensive was just under $30 million.
He noted the least expensive treatment plant to build came with the highest price tag to operate, which was weighed in the decision making process.
The Ebbtide plant pitched by Maple Reinders, which Sechelt chose, was the second least expensive to build and operate.
Nash pointed to Sechelt's desire for high quality treatment as the reason all of the bids came in higher than the $16 million budget originally expected.
"That is from our contractor about a $5 million component of the project," Nash said.
His power point presentation to council is available for public viewing on the District of Sechelt website at www.sechelt.ca.
