Speaking at the city’s June 24 finance committee meeting, Rizk outlined developments in his monthly report to the committee.
“The construction has started and you can visibly see signs,” said Rizk. “The permanent access road to the site has been cut and they are moving dirt, quite a bit. The mechanical specialist of the contractor is onsite and he’s ahead of the game. We sure appreciate that.”
In reviewing project costs to date compared to budget, Rizk highlighted some changes to contract administration costs for Associated Engineering. Rizk highlighted expenses of $110,765 for integration of the outfall into the contract with the general contractor for the plant, plus $37,800 for the consultant’s advice with regard to mediation with the initial contractor, which was not able to complete the outfall work due to environmental regulations from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The third expenditure was for reallocation of $107,000 from the construction costs to the consultant for post-construction services.
This will bring the adjusted value of the construction administration contract with Associated Engineering to $4,582,135, according to Rizk. The original contract was for $4.33 million, said Rizk.
Finance committee chair George Doubt said the three amounts Rizk explained are adjustments to the construction administration contract for new tasks they have to do that weren’t contemplated originally.
“It’s additional work we’ve asked the construction administration contractor to do,” said Doubt. “The other significant thing that is coming is on July 8, we are going to have a tender closing for the conveyancing contract, if I’m correct.”
The conveyancing will involve the piping to get liquid waste to the solid waste treatment plant.
According to Rizk, three contractors have been shortlisted for the conveyancing work, including Graham Infrastructure, which is the general contractor for the plant, Jacob Bros Construction and Knappett Industries. All three companies are on Vancouver Island or Lower Mainland-based.
City of Powell River council will be holding a special meeting on July 8 to receive a report on the wastewater treatment plant project from Associated Engineering.
