News Release
(Wednesday, May 31/2000)-- Mayor Walter Fitzgerald announced two additional major steps today in the process to implement the proposed $315 million Halifax Harbour Solutions Project.
Mayor Fitzgerald said officials of the Harbour Solutions Project team are in the final stages of negotiations with VIA Rail to purchase publicly-owned land in Halifax's south end as the site for the project's third sewage treatment plant.
In addition, the final Request for Proposals (RFP) to design, build and operate the multi-million dollar project will be going out to the short-listed private sector proponents today.
At the same time, consultants representing the interests of HRM and the Harbour Solutions Project, along with HRM staff, have started work on a Reference Bid for the project ( as requested by Halifax Regional Council). The Reference Bid will place a value on the project, as if it were to be undertaken by the public sector. Council can then use the Reference Bid as a comparator to the private sector bids.
Three consortia, representing more than 45 local, national and international companies, have expressed interest in competing for the tender. The proponents will have until September 19th to respond to the RFP. The bids will then be analysed and the successful proponent will be identified. HRM and the private sector group would then enter negotiations for a contract on the project.
The third treatment plant site, which encompasses 1.75 hectares of land, includes the former VIA maintenance shop, located behind the former VIA Train Station. The main components of the treatment plant will be constructed inside the former maintenance facility.
Next week, Harbour Solutions Project staff will be circulating specific site-related information to property owners and businesses in the surrounding area. Individual and public meetings will be held in the near future to develop measures to insure the effective integration of the treatment plant into the surrounding area.
Two other sites-- one on HRM-owned land at the corner of Cornwallis and Barrington Streets, in Halifax; and the other on the former Canadian Coast Guard lands in Dartmouth, have already been identified as locations for two other sewage treatment plants. A fourth site, in the Herring Cove area, is yet to be identified.
Mayor Fitzgerald said " I am pleased that we have been able to locate these plants so far on publicly-owned land within the harbour area. The technology today should ensure these plants will be quiet and clean to operate, with no detectable odour. The proposed landscape and design plans will make them attractive additions to our urban picture," he said.
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Mayor Walter Fitzgerald
(902) 490-4010
Maurice Lloyd
Project Manager, Harbour Solutions
(902) 490-4549
