The City’s biggest summer infrastructure project is well underway and is expected to wrap up by mid-August.
Work is ongoing as part of an attempt to fix water and sewer lines and flow near Aspen Grove. The new lift station and force main upgrade project got underway in the past couple weeks, with work moving fast from around the apartment complex south through towards Northland Ford and a City lift station.
“They’ve started on the pipe job over by Aspen Grove, all the way to the lift station behind Ford. That is the $4 million project that we’re doing that’s used up all our money, so we can’t pay for the roads this year or do anything else,” said councillor Bill Hanson at a recent city council meeting. Hanson is the chair of council’s engineering services committee.
“They’re moving right along. I think they’ve gone from Aspen Grove and they’re up all the way onto Bracken Street, behind Rotary Court,” he added.
“I wish we could get all of our work done that quick.”
The project has just over a $4 million total price tag, split between the City and the Manitoba Water Services Board on a 60/40 split. The deal means the overall cost for the City is around $1.5 million in total, a big increase over what City staff had expected to pay for the project in the past. The project was part of the City’s original infrastructure plan for last summer and the project was originally slated to be about a quarter of the price it is now - an over $1 million increase in the City's share of costs meant a bare-bones budget this year, with most money originally meant to pave roads having to be moved to cover the cost.
“When this project was first announced, the total cost was $1 million - our share was supposed to be $400,000,” Hanson said.
“You can imagine our surprise when it jumped past $1 million and then on to $1.5 million.”
Winnipeg-based Tri-Core Projects has been tendered to do the project by the Manitoba Water Services Board.
“The board manages that project 100 per cent. We have a role in that we sit at the meetings and we talk to them about what they plan on doing,” said City chief administrative officer Lyn Brown.
“We have what I would call an advisory role. We understand our system and that’s the role we play, but that’s the role - they manage the entire thing, they manage the tenders and the engineers.”
The tentative completion date for the work is August 15 - the work may conclude ahead of schedule, even if the project has ballooned well over the original budget from last year.
“It’s not going to be long,” said Brown.
Residents from Aspen Grove and nearby streets like Ash Crescent and Oak Avenue have had issues for years with water and sewer flow, including frequent sewer backups and water damage. Delegations from residents on the streets have spoken with both the previous and the current city council to voice their displeasure and call for repairs to the water lines. The water lines also go by the past and future site of the Flin Flon Aqua Centre.
