The municipal administration calls for patience in the file of the two future compost treatment plants of the metropolis, whose construction sites have been paralyzed for two months.
Posted at 2:39 p.m.
Valérie Plante’s environment manager said Monday that the file should evolve this week and that the City “will not accept being held hostage” in a commercial dispute.
The EBC construction firm deserted the Montreal East and Saint-Laurent sites in July with its men and machinery. A payment dispute between EBC and Veolia – the company that won the municipal contract – is the source of this paralysis.
The Saint-Laurent plant was to be inaugurated this fall — after several postponements. The Montreal East plant is less advanced. These are projects totaling 340 million.
“The City will not give a blank check to any company for cost overruns,” Marie-Andrée Mauger told city council on Monday. This is the person in charge of environmental files on the executive committee of Valérie Plante.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“The City will not give a blank check to any company for cost overruns,” said Marie-Andrée Mauger, responsible for environmental files on the executive committee of Valérie Plante.
She added: “It is our responsibility to manage public funds soundly and we will not compromise on that. […] We will not accept being held hostage by a commercial dispute between the company to which we have given a contract and its subcontractors. »
The City is awaiting news this week from Veolia’s insurer, which must guarantee the completion of the work, said Ms.me Mauger.
The elected official was questioned by Alan DeSousa of the official opposition. “These factories are already costing more than expected and will be delivered months, if not years late,” he said.
Montreal had awarded these two contracts to the Suez company in 2019, but the latter has since been bought by Veolia.