The District of Houston is going ahead with a project to provide water in bulk and take in septage in bulk after first being stymied after no bids were received when the work went out to tender earlier this year.
With no bids received, council then directed staffers to search for a company it could directly contract for the work and settled on Canadian Western Mechanical to do the install at a cost of $201,800.
With other costs factored in, including $113,194.97 for the septage receiving station portion of the project, the total package is now estimated to cost $527,930.45. That’s just $10,404.55 under the approved budget of $538,335, a factor council members considered in deciding whether to go ahead or not.
And that’s without a contingency allowance built in, no GST added in and without yet having confirmed what it’ll cost to connect to BC Hydro.
Although the project is not within the District’s current strategic plan, the prospect of providing a service to large-scale users prompted council to undertake the work as one way to add to the District’s overall ability to attract more business and boost economic development.
As it is, Civeo, the work camp provider installing the large worker facility south of Houston for workers on the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline, contributed $311,628.75 with the District adding in $177,000 of its own money to the initial $538,335 budget.
Civeo this fall has started intensive work on getting Huckleberry Lodge ready for occupancy for an influx of workers next year when work begins to place the natural gas pipeline underground.
Speaking following the Sept. 9 meeting in which council gave the go ahead, Mayor Shane Brienen acknowledged that the projected costs were very close to the budgeted amount.
“Yes, the budget is tight but we’re confident it can be done,” he said.
Brienen did add that the District does have the financial resources available to handle additional expenses.
The facility is to be built on the west side of Nadina, south of the District’s public works shop.
Houston is one of three communities, the others being Burns Lake and Fraser Lake, in which agreements have been struck to upgrade water and sewer services to support the Coastal GasLink project.
In all three locations, local governments will be paid fees for the new services.