The bill for the Pie-IX rapid bus service (SRB), inaugurated a year ago after several delays and cost overruns, could further increase. The contractor who carried out a large part of the project is demanding $72 million from the City of Montreal.
The construction firm EBC filed a lawsuit in Superior Court on Wednesday against the City and the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), the two public organizations responsible for this project which has so far cost $523 million in public funds.
The company is asking for exactly $72,292,600.73, including taxes. She says she encountered many unforeseen events during the project which cost her dearly and forced her to accelerate the pace to deliver the project on time.
“These additional costs are attributable to the City and the ARTM, which failed to correctly design and plan the project,” EBC alleges in its motion.
The general contractor had won 3 contracts totaling nearly $167 million. The problems would have started from the first excavations. EBC criticizes the City in particular for not having correctly identified all the underground infrastructure (aqueducts and sewers, natural gas pipes, telecommunications networks) along Pie-IX Boulevard.
“This resulted in incessant conflicts […] with existing networks not planned or poorly positioned in the plans as well as the presence of buried structures not listed in the plans […]all of which considerably slows down the pace of the work and significantly increases the cost of the work,” according to the contractor.
A decade later
The SRB Pie-IX, between avenue Pierre-de-Coubertin in Montreal and boulevard Saint-Martin in Laval, was first announced in 2009 by Gérald Tremblay, who was then mayor of Montreal. The authorities then spoke of an invoice of $154 million.
The project only finally began a decade later and cost more than three times what was initially estimated.
And the SRB saga also promises to occupy the courts for the next few years. In addition to the request filed by EBC, the City is already suing the designer Aecom, responsible for the plans and specifications, for $5 million.
In its lawsuit filed in March 2022, the City alleges that “numerous errors and omissions were discovered in the plans and specifications designed by [AECOM]generating many unforeseen additional costs.
Less popular than expected
Inaugurated in November 2022 by Mayor Valérie Plante and Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault, the new public transportation infrastructure allows users to save between 10 and 15 minutes on the 40 minutes that previously took the travel time between Boulevard Henri- Bourassa and the Pie-IX metro station.
Valérie Plante and Geneviève Guilbault during the inauguration of the SRB Pie-IX in November 2022
Archive photo, QMI Agency
However, its popularity is below expectations. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM), which operates it, was counting on daily ridership of 70,000 people. However, there are only around 25,000 users who use it every day, revealed The Press in the month of September.
Construction of phase 2 of the project, between avenue Pierre-De Coubertin and rue Notre-Dame Est, began in September. It was put on hold for a few months due to skyrocketing costs. The project will ultimately move forward with a projected bill of $167 million, compared to the $78 million initially planned.
With the collaboration of Michael Nguyen