A billion-dollar wastewater treatment plant in Vancouver, Canada, has been terminated after running into a number of unforeseen challenges that drove costs and the completion date well beyond expectations.
Metro Vancouver terminated the contract with the plant’s developer Acciona Wastewater Solutions last week, citing long construction delays and costs that have doubled from the original estimate of $500 million. The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is reported to be two-and-a-half-years behind schedule.
Acciona was chosen as contractor of the plant in 2017 following a competitive process with completion originally expected for the end of 2020, according to the Vancouver Sun. In 2019, the contractor requested an additional two-and-a-half years to complete the project with an increased budget, as the plant was upgraded from secondary to tertiary treatment. Completion has now been pushed all the way to 2024 at an estimated cost of $1.058 billion.
