Media Room

News Release

Regional Council Takes Action to Move Harbour Solution Project Forward

(Wednesday, June 6/2001)-- Regional Council re-stated its commitment today to finding the most technological and cost-effective solution for the clean-up of Halifax Harbour and took action to deal with issues that could cause further delays to the Harbour Solutions Project.

Mayor Peter Kelly stated that Regional Council recognizes the overwhelming public support for the Harbour Solutions Project and appreciates the public's frustration over the number of unexpected obstacles HRM has had to deal with in the selection process for a private sector partner to design, build, and operate the sewage treatment system.

The Mayor and Councillors, following a briefing by members of the Harbour Solutions Project Team, endorsed a recommendation by the Harbour Solutions Project Council Advisory Committee to take appropriate steps to ensure the massive environmental protection project moves ahead without further delays.

As a result, Halifax Regional Council has agreed to:

• file a Discontinuance with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to stop action on an application for Declarations by the Court regarding certain matters relating to the RFP process.

Members of Regional Council added that both proponents had raised a variety of procedural arguments which frustrated HRM's desire to have the matters relating to the Declarations determined by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in a timely fashion.

• terminate the Request for Proposals (RFP) process because it requires that there be proposals from at least two proponents (to be evaluated); and one of the proposals received could not be evaluated because it was incomplete.

The integrity of the Evaluation Process has been further undermined by the Halifax Waterworks Group's breach of the confidentiality provisions of the RFP.

Given the significant financial investment which HRM and the proponents have in the Project to date, Mayor Kelly stated that Regional Council is inviting the two proponents to consider participation in a revised process, which will enable HRM to "open the envelopes" and proceed without delay to evaluate both submissions (including supplementary materials) on their technical and financial merit.

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Mayor Peter Kelly
(902) 490-4010