Montreal has not created a dangerous precedent by agreeing with the company responsible for building its compost treatment centers, whose sites have been paralyzed for 10 months, Valérie Plante assured Monday.
The City reached an agreement with Veolia overnight from Thursday to Friday, after increasing the project budget by more than 40 million and agreeing to waive billing 5.4 million in late fees. Veolia has promised to resume work within 30 days.
“What message is the administration sending to other businesses that do business with the City? That a work stoppage will be beneficial? That the penalties will be erased? “Questioned the elected opposition Alan DeSousa to the city council.
“Personally, I think it’s not only a heavy precedent for the City, but it’s almost a guide for other people who will learn from this experience,” he added.
Unusually, the mayor of Montreal responded directly to Mr. DeSousa.
“We what we do as an administration in a responsible and transparent way […] it is to negotiate in good faith within the framework of the contract. We did not reopen the contract precisely so as not to create a precedent, ”replied Valérie Plante. “But to hear my colleague, we should have just let it go, go back to a call for tenders when a plant was 80% complete. »
The mayor argued that the opposition encouraged her to settle this file at the start of the “crisis”, but now blames her for having found a solution. “Connect! “launched M.me Plant.
A few minutes earlier, the person in charge of the Environment at the town hall had welcomed the conclusion of the file.
“We said last fall that there would be no blank checks,” said Marie-Andrée Mauger, still on the municipal council. “We made sure in the agreement […] that the sums granted, some would go down to the subcontractors. »
“We are very proud of this agreement which finally puts this project back on track,” she added.
110,000 tonnes of residue to be treated
The two organic matter treatment center projects have been in the news for years.
The Saint-Laurent facility, located on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard West, was to cost the city $175 million, a sum that includes its operation for the first five years. The construction site is currently 90% complete. The plant should be able to process 50,000 tonnes of table waste per year to make compost that can be used in agriculture.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Saint-Laurent facility was to cost the city 175 million, a sum which includes its operation for the first five years. The construction site is currently 90% complete.
The Montréal-Est facility, a biomethanization center, will be located on the site of the former Demix quarry, at the intersection of Avenue Broadway Nord and Highway 40. Its construction and operation for five first years were to cost 167 million in Montreal. The facility will swallow 60,000 tonnes of compost per year, according to the City.
Both projects suffered from significant delays and cost overruns. The City of Montreal must now export part of its organic matter to Ontario while waiting for the finalization of the two facilities.
The contracts for their construction and operation were awarded in 2019 to Suez, a French company whose North American subsidiary was bought last year by its compatriot Veolia. This explains why the City of Montreal now has to deal with Veolia.
In 2021, the Auditor General of Montreal mentioned an “overall finding of cost overruns and non-compliance with the schedule” in the case of organic matter treatment centers (CTMO). “The CTMO construction project did not follow a sufficiently rigorous process that one would expect for a project of such complexity and scope,” she wrote.