BRUCEDALE – A contracting company has been selected to construct a “very much needed” secondary watermain under the Catherine Street rail crossing in Rockwood.
On Feb. 6 Guelph/Eramosa council unanimously awarded the project to J.G. Goetz Construction Limited for $843,205 including HST.
Overall the project is expected to cost the township’s water department about $820,000 after netting out provisional items, taking out the recoverable HST portion and adding back in engineering costs.
Director of public works Harry Niemi, who presented a report on the project to council, said funding will come from the township’s water department, not taxation.
“If there is a shortfall it would need to come from our own reserves ultimately,” Niemi noted, though he does not expect this to be necessary.
He said the need for the secondary watermain was identified in 2017, and details were included in the 2018 development charges background study.
The estimated cost of the project in 2018 was “considerably less,” at $330,000, Niemi said. Last year it was budgeted at $650,000.
Niemi explained “a number of factors” led to the increase in cost, including COVID-19 and supply chain issues.
Councillor Mark Bouwmeester said this is an “important project” and the pricing change makes sense given the dates.
The project was delayed due to communication back and forth with Metrolinx, which owns the rail line, to finalize details such as location, surface works related to the crossing, location of switchings and sidings, etcetera.
Mayor Chris White said it has been a “complex project getting under the railroad,” adding the watermain is “very much needed.”
“If the main line was to break today, there’s no water service in the north part of town,” White noted.
“So for the safety of citizens we need to get this finally complete. Hopefully we can put it to bed this year.”
The township posted the notice of tender on its website and advertised it in a tenders publication.
Ten contractors and suppliers received the documents and three bids for the project were received before closing on Jan. 25.
The other two bids, both over $1 million dollars after HST, were from Drexler Construction Limited and Sierra Infrastructure.
The township’s consultant, R.J. Burnside and Associates, reviewed the tenders and recommended the low tender submitted by J. G. Goetz Construction be accepted.
Niemi said the contract includes provisional work for sanitary and water services for potential future lots if timing works out in order to avoid digging more than once.
If the township proceeds with that work it will be entirely funded by developers.
