Estevan city council has rejected the tenders that came in for the water intake project, as they all came in significantly over-budget.
The tenders revealed at Monday night’s meeting showed that the lowest bid was from Kelly Panteluk Construction Ltd., at more than $14.5 million. The engineering estimate a month ago was $10 million.
Shane Bucsis, the manager of the water division for the City of Estevan, said there were three reasons the project came in over-budget. The first was the requirement from the environmental assessment that work needed to be done from Oct. 1 to March 31.
There are also issues related to the depth of Rafferty.
“Our engineering estimate was really off on what it would be to set up an intake that low,” said Bucsis.
Finally, there is no competition for pipe right now because a pipe manufacturer had a plough wind go through their plant. The cost of pipe has gone from $180/metre to $233/metre.
“When you’re dealing with 14 kilometres of pipeline, that adds a great cost to the project,” said Bucsis.
The city is looking at several options for the next step, including splitting the process in two, approach the Ministry of Environment to see if the environmental assessments for wildlife could be eased, seeking more money from the other levels government, and looking at different design overall to reduce the cost.
Bucsis stressed this project will still go ahead, but it could result in delays before it is completed. The intake project was expected to be completed next year.
As part of the intake project, Estevan’s primary water source will be shifted from Boundary Dam to Rafferty Dam, with Boundary remaining as an option for a backup water source.
The federal and provincial governments announced in 2016 that they would each contribute up to $3.1 million, or one-third of the projected cost at the time. The city would be responsible for the remaining third of the cost.
Also included in the government funding was a waste residuals management project for the water treatment plant, which was completed last year, but the water intake project was the biggest expense.
This week’s edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
