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The B.C. provincial government announced on Monday that it is dropping the current contractor for the George Massey Tunnel replacement.
While construction began in January, the province said it was unable to reach an agreement on commercial terms going forward with Cross Fraser Partnership.
The project will now be separated into different components, with local companies being invited to bid on them. Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth says that process will drive down costs.
He also said the tunnel is still on track to open in 2030, but Delta city councillor Dylan Kruger said British Columbians should be concerned.
“This is a highly unusual development,” he said.
“This contract was awarded to the Fraser Crossing partnership in 2024 in an open bid process. It’s been two years since that time, with a fixed price of $4.15 billion for this project. Now we’re finding out that after two years of work, the province has cancelled that contract and they’re going back to the beginning.”
Kruger introduced a motion at a council meeting on Monday night, calling for an independent third-party investigation into the project, which passed unanimously.
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“This project has not been well managed,” he added.
“I would actually argue this is one of the biggest transportation boondoggles of the 21st century here in B.C.”
Just over a year ago, Delta South MLA Ian Paton expressed concern about the tunnel replacement, saying major construction still had not started.
“They’ve spent $300 million since 2017 working on a plan to build a tunnel and yet… there’s absolutely nothing happening,” Paton said at the time.
“There’s no excavators. There’s no bulldozers. There’s no sign of a concrete tube.”
In 2013, the Liberal government announced a 10-lane bridge to replace the aging tunnel but the BC NDP scrapped the plan and in 2021 announced a new tunnel.
Farnworth said on Monday that the project’s timeline remains the same.
“The current timeline continues to be on track in terms of the work that is already underway,” he said.
“There’s 200 workers on the project right now. We’re expecting the review of the environmental certificate to be completed by the end of this year and then the major project works start early next year.”
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