November 19, 2008

North Vancouver Water Filtration Project

Metro Vancouver digs deep to hire new contractor for twin-tunnel project

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Metro Vancouver is in the process of hiring a new contractor to complete the construction of twin tunnels for a water filtration project in North Vancouver.

Work on the $ 100 million project was suspended by Bilfinger-Berger Canada (BBC) in January 2008, due to concerns about the safety of underground workers.

Metro Vancouver terminated BBC’s right to perform further work on the project.

After almost a year with no work being undertaken on the twin tunnel project, Metro Vancouver is again looking for a contractor.

“We started with expressions of interest and sent about 15 invitations to potential contractors who might be able to complete the work,” said Bill Morrell, media relations and corporate communications manager with Metro Vancouver.

“We have reviewed the responses and pre-qualified three companies or consortia that are able to complete the work.”

The three joint venture companies identified in the pre-bid process are:

McNally International Inc., Obayashi Corporation and Procon Mining and Tunnelling;

Seymour Capilano joint venture – Dragodos, SELI and Schiavione;

Seymour Capilano partnership – Frontier-Kemper, Aecon Construction Inc. and JF Shea Construction Inc.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued to each of these consortia. The closing date for the return of the RFP to Metro Vancouver is Dec. 16.

“We expect to grant or award a contract by the end of January 2009, with the intention of starting work in March,” said Morrell.

The new contractor will use the existing equipment, which includes two tunnel boring machines that have remained underground since work was suspended by BBC in January.

“Procon Mining was retained to maintain ventilation and pumps, as well as keep the tunnels clear of water,” explained Morrell. “They also kept the tunnel boring machines in proper working condition.”

Some of the work was done by about 15 temporary foreign workers who were hired by Bilfinger-Berger to work on the project and then left in limbo for months without any source of income after the contractor was terminated.

Metro Vancouver hired BBC in 2004, to construct twin tunnels with a combined length of 14.2 km for the Capilano-Seymour water filtration project.

However, Metro Vancouver alleges that BBC refused to proceed with work, even though they were provided with a comprehensive and viable plan for completion.

Bilfinger-Berger filed a suit in B.C. Supreme Court against Metro Vancouver, which alleges the contract was improperly cancelled.

A series of overstress failures of the rock in the tunnels occurred in late 2007 and January 2008, which led BBC to suspend work for alleged safety reasons in the same month.

Metro Vancouver argues that the steel ribs, rock bolts and welded wire mesh as specified in the contract are sufficient, safe and viable in the current conditions.

BBC argues that Metro Vancouver and their engineer Hatch Mott Macdonald (HMM) are responsible for the project design and for all risks arising from baseline conditions being different than those set out in the geotechnical report.

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