Fixing errors at North Shore sewage plant to cost Metro Vancouver $85 million

Previous errors and repairs could triple the cost of “early works construction” to $85 million on Metro Vancouver’s delayed and over-budget North Shore wastewater treatment plant.

The request for more funds is expected to come before Metro’s liquid waste committee next week.

Early last year, Metro hired PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. on a contract worth $40 million to develop a new plan for the troubled project, including a revised budget and schedule. The move came after the regional district terminated its contract with the treatment plant’s initial contractor, Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP, after it missed key milestones and appeared to have “abandoned” the project.

Acciona Wastewater, a subsidiary of a Spanish multinational, was hired in 2017 on a design-build-finance basis to complete what was to be a $700 million replacement for the Lions Gate wastewater plant. The project ended up being 2½ years overschedule and costs ballooned to $1.058 billion.