Construction companies are getting ready for a summer’s worth of work in Moncton.
City Council approved eight projects worth $12.6 million last night, including a long awaited $5.2 million upgrade to the Jones Lake Spillway and Culvert.
The price tag for the work is significant, but City of Moncton Director of Construction and Design Alcide Richard says it’s $1.2 million cheaper than the next bidder.
He adds it’s complicated work.
“We’re installing a new culvert parallel to an old one that we had a collapse on, we have to keep the existing spillway while we’re building a new one, the soils are not great in that area,” says Richard.
He says the winning bidder of Caldwell & Ross Limited is confident in their pricing, and that they already have all the details they need to succeed in their project.
One of the projects is already starting – the $295,658.10 emergency repair of a watermain under Salisbury road.
Director of Construction and Design Alcide Richard explains the cost.
“We need to live tap into the existing watermain to get temporary water in case we were to have a break to ensure we continue service,” says Richard. “We know it’s been leaking since March, it could be longer than that, one day at a time.”
Richard says calculating the difference between measurements on clients meters, and what was flowing in, they estimate water loss is about 450,000 litres per day, at a cost of about $900.
“We would ask citizens that are out there, if you start seeing settlement, or you start noticing dips in the area, please notify the Public Works Department,” says Richard. “We don’t want to sound alarmist, we’re very optimistic we can get through this without incident, but things are happening underground.
Other projects include upgrades to Trails in Irishtown, the exterior of the Operations Centre, and field number 3 at the CN Sportplexe.
