Tantramar council awards $2.2M contract for partial aboiteau construction

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The municipality of Tantramar is closer to having their stormwater project finished after awarding a construction contract for close to $2.2 million for the partial construction of an aboiteau.

Jon Eppell, Tantramar’s engineer, told council during a special meeting on Jan. 29 the purpose of the double-gated aboiteau is to allow stormwater to flow into the Tantramar River. The overall goal of the project is to replace a 1950s era under-sized aboiteau to alleviate considerable flooding concerns in the Tantramar area.

The municipality had issued a tender last year and the construction bid came in higher than what they had anticipated, Eppell, said, noting they would have to divide the project into two phases.

The budget from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure for the aboiteau construction is roughly $2.4 million. The project is managed by the municipality of Tantramar, but 100 per cent funded by DTI, said Eppell.

Phase 1 would see the construction of the aboiteau with close to half the length of pipework that needs to go in, but it would be a building block for the second phase. It would also mean the construction of a temporary sheet wall pile, so the construction site would stay dry.

The flapper gates would also be installed that would drain the water at low tide when the aboiteau is fully operational. Eppell said Phase 1 would still not allow the water to flow through that part of the aboiteau until the rest of the project would complete. Instead, it would be flowing through the existing aboiteau.

Eppell called the first phase of the project “useful, but not complete.” The second phase would involve installing the remainder of the piping, as well as dredging the channel, and adding riprap rock into the channel to protect against future erosion.

The second phase will not go ahead until DTI provides over $600,000 to complete the work. If the additional money from the province comes in before March 1, Caldwell & Ross said they would do the work under the terms of their original bid of just over $2.8 million, Eppell said.

When Coun. Josh Goguen asked if the province would be ready to pay the additional funds, Eppell, said they may have more of an incentive to pay for the second phase to be completed if the first phase was finished.

“If we don’t proceed with Phase 1, there’s nothing to stop this from being kicked down the road several years,” he said.

Jennifer Borne, the municipality’s chief administrative officer, said the funds would not be coming from “in house” when Goguen asked if Tantramar could discuss coming up with the funding.

Borne noted Mayor Andrew Black and staff continue to work with the province on firming up funding.”

Council voted unanimously to award the contract to Fredericton-based company Caldwell & Ross, the lowest bidder, valued at $2,155, 575 plus HST, as well as engineering services from Englobe for $71,000 plus HST.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure was unable to provide responses to questions from Brunswick News on Tuesday.