Fired contractor takes Metro Vancouver to court over troubled sewage plant
Global News
The regional district pulled the plug on its contract with Acciona in October, citing a cost escalation from $500 million to $1 billion and construction delays.
The company originally contracted to build a massive new wastewater treatment plant on the North Shore is suing Metro Vancouver for nearly $300 million, after the regional district terminated the contract.
The regional district pulled the plug on the deal in October, citing cost escalation from $500 million to $1 billion and construction delays.
Under the original terms of the public-private partnership, Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP was to design, build, partially finance and operate the plant, at a cost of $500 million and a completion date of January 2021.
On Thursday, Acciona filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging the district was in fact behind the problems with the project.
The company claims that it was actually impossible to build the plant, as specified in the original project agreement, on the site Metro Vancouver selected.
It also claims that Metro Vancouver’s design and construction specifications were “highly prescriptive, conflicting and error-ridden,” and that the district “interfered extensively” with design and construction work that were, under the project agreement, the company’s sole responsibility.
Acciona claims that Metro Vancouver refused to grant extensions or pay additional compensation for changes it was forced to make to the project in order to address “numerous conflicts and errors” with the design specifications.
The suit states that by mid-2021 the company had recalculated a realistic estimate of 2025 to complete the project, at the cost of $1 billion, due to the district’s “wrongful conduct,” the site being “unsuitable” for construction and “the emergence of project risks not contemplated” at the time of the original agreement.
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