As we detailed two weeks ago, the Washmill underpass project, originally projected to cost $10 million, is an astonishing $8 million over budget. So far, $9,656,252 has been spent on the roadway, which now leads directly into a stone wall. The money needed to complete the road has yet to be allocated, but here’s who has been paid so far:
Maritime Testing—environmental monitoring and slate management, $37,364.
Servant Dunbrack—surveying, $12,205.
SNC Lavalin—design work, wetland alteration application, construction inspection, $202,140 spent, with another $129,710 budgeted, for a potential total of $331,850.
Brycon Construction—Phase 1 construction (detour road base, water retention, excavation), $3,199,637.
Dexter Construction—Phase 2 construction (detour road paving, bridges, storm water piping), $6,456,615, with another $1,672,975 still budgeted.
Phase 3 construction consists of building the actual Washmill Boulevard and associated sidewalks, lighting and landscaping. Supposedly, this will cost somewhere in the range of $5-7 million, but full costs won’t be known for several weeks.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2011.
What a complete bunch of city staff morons running this project, if it were the private sector they would be fired along with whomever supervised it, no if ands or buts about it.
No doubt about it, if I estimated a job and it turned out to be twice as much I would be fired.
And rightfully so!!! If you are an estimator then do your job well or lose it. It is as simple as that.
Let the heads roll…..PLEASE>
Stop the insanity!!!
Tom; I’m pretty sure that SNC Lavalin is actually taking care of the project management and were resposible for the rediculous under-estimation of costs… Where is the incompetence in the city? We don’t pay them to do what a consultant has already done (estimate the cost of the project) when it is supposed to be to a high professional standard.
Longwalker, you are being naive and a little ignorant , when you are accountable for the delivery of a project, construction or otherwise, such as staff at city hall is responsible for projects such as this, then it IS your responsibility to ensure that all your contractors come in on budget and deliver according to what they bid on. This is accomplished through a number of available mechanisms of a contract such as penalties etc, project monitoring, project budget allocation etc. According to yoour statement, if this was not standard practise as is followed in a more sophisticated municipalities and the private sector then every construction budget would come in twice as much like Washmill. I hope you are not hiring a contractor to build a deck on your house for $3,000 and when he comes in at $6,000 just shrugging your shoulders and paying it and I certainly hope you do not work for the city because if you do we are in a world of trouble with your logic and project management skills.
The city project accountant for this project should be out on his ass for not doing his job as Tom already pointed out. Also, the entire legal department for the city should also be canned. What kind of idiots draw contracts without including strict deadlines and penalties? Just us I guess, “Doo-be-doo-be-doooo, whatever it is taxpayer money, not mine… D’uh….” must be what is going through minds at city hall.
Let’s not forget rubber-stamping private development without thinking of proper utilities (in reference to the Eastern Passage fiasco that we’ll all have to pay after a cool 27% hike)….. Why am I staying in HRM again?
This is accomplished through a number of available mechanisms of a contract such as penalties etc, project monitoring, project budget allocation etc. According to yoour statement, if this was not standard practise as is followed in a more sophisticated municipalities and the private sector then every construction budget would come in twice as much like Washmill. I hope you are not hiring a contractor to build a deck on your house for $3,000 and when he comes in at $6,000 just shrugging your shoulders and paying it and I certainly hope you do not work for the city because if you do we are in a world of trouble with your logic and project management skills.
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