The BC Liberal government says the troubled Evergreen Line SkyTrain extension will open by Christmas, but it’s keeping secrets about a transaction with the rapid transit line’s primary contractor and the results of mediation over construction delays.
“British Columbians deserve to know exactly, to the last dollar, what has been paid to SNC-Lavalin [TSX:SNC] before they vote in May 2017,” IntegrityBC executive director Dermod Travis said in an interview. “Secondly, they deserve to know, as do the other bidders, whether all the bidders were provided accurate geotechnical data by the B.C. government and, if not, why not.”
A heavily censored, 10-page Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure briefing note from March 9, marked “Confidential – Commercial,” proposed a settlement of disputed supervening events and other items with EGRT Construction, the SNC-Lavalin-owned primary contractor. The machine that bored the two-kilometre tunnel was stalled for nearly half of 2015 as crews dealt with a series of sinkholes under Port Moody.
SNC-Lavalin’s engineering and construction division blamed “challenging soil conditions” for part of a $27 million second-quarter loss in 2015.
The briefing note said there were four outstanding unexpected events that contributed to the project delay, but the amounts and details of claims filed by EGRT and a related risk analysis were all censored. The government invoked exceptions to the freedom of information law to prevent release of information that it claims would reveal advice or recommendations to a minister and potentially harm the government’s finances.
A section under the heading of project budget and contingency was censored from the briefing note, even though the government has publicly claimed it remains within the Evergreen Line project’s $1.43 billion budget. Three unresolved change orders were listed, but without the corresponding dollar values: installation of a new 130-millimetre culvert and raising of Aberdeen Avenue, Stage 3 Watering restrictions and Hoy Creek habitat compensation.
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SNC-Lavalin successfully bid $889.7 million for the Evergreen Line’s design, construction and finance contract in 2012.
Kiewit/Flatiron and EL Partners, a consortium involving Vinci and Bombardier (TSX:BDRPF), were the other two on the shortlist. The project agreement was signed by Deputy Minister Grant Main and includes provisions for EGRT to “claim additional compensation for certain supervening events.”
The briefing note revealed that both SNC-Lavalin and another bidder, whose name the government censored, agreed to assume all risk associated with the bored tunnel, except for any factual errors in geotechnical data. The March 2013 project report by PartnershipsBC, the government’s privatization agency, mentioned only that SNC-Lavalin had proposed taking the risk.
The government is also hiding the dollar value of its transaction with EGRT in March, the same month as the briefing note.
A request for a list of the monthly sums paid by the province from January 2013 to June 2016 showed at least $571 million was paid to EGRT during the period. The government showed payments for 41 of the 42 months, but March 2016 was censored because the government fears that disclosure would harm its finances.
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A chart in the March 2013 project report indicated that SNC-Lavalin would be eligible for $300 million when the project reaches substantial completion as an incentive to complete the project on time.
Main has not responded to repeated requests for interviews since last year.
The ministry has refused to release copies of EGRT monthly project status reports unless fees of at least $45 are paid. It has also overstated the size of the documents and even hidden the existence of shorter summary reports. •
