News Release
HRM Signs Biosolids Contract
(Tuesday, November 30/2004)
– Mayor Peter Kelly, on behalf of Halifax Regional Council,
today officially signed a contract with SGE Acres Limited and Hatch
Limited to design, build and commission a biosolids processing facility
at AeroTech Park to handle biosolids from the Harbour Solutions
Project and existing HRM waste water treatment plants.
The Guaranteed Maximum Price of the future plant is not to exceed
$12,240,000 plus net HST. Halifax Regional Council agreed in October
to enter into agreements with SGE Acres Limited, Hatch Limited and
N-Viro Systems Canada Inc. The signing represents the formalization
of the agreements.
Mayor Kelly also signed a contract with N-Viro Systems Canada to
operate and maintain the biosolids processing facility for a five
year period, beginning in 2006.
Mayor Kelly said “The signing of these agreements completes
the last of the three major components of the Harbour Solutions
Project. Residents can rest assured the days of raw sewage flowing
into our harbour are numbered. The Halifax waste water treatment
plant is already under construction and work on the sewage collection
system has been underway for over a year.”
Allan Green, president of SGE Acres Limited, said “ SGE Acres
is very pleased to have come to a sucessful conclusion to these
negotiations. We look forward to working with HRM and its residents
toward the completion of the Harbour Solutions Project.”
Terms of the development agreement require SGE Acres Limited to
build a facility which will be capable of producing a finished product
that meets or exceeds federal requirements for a fertilizer/soil
amendment under the Fertilizers Act; provincial requirements for
“Class A” product; and it must achieve an Exceptional
Quality Class A pathogen reduction material designation under United
States Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The marketing
and sale of the finished product will also be the responsibility
of the operator, N-Viro.
These agreements should enable HRM to complete the Harbour Solutions
Project within the original budget of $333 million.
In August 2003, Halifax Regional Council signed a $115.7 million
sewage collection system (SCS) infrastructure agreement with Dexter
Construction. In June 2004, Council signed agreements worth $133.2
million with D & D Water Solutions Inc. for the design, construction
and commissioning of three waste water treatment plants, to be located
in Halifax, Dartmouth and Herring Cove.
The Federal government has agreed to contribute $60 million towards
the project and the Province of Nova Scotia has agreed to contribute
$30 million over a 15-year period, as well as to provide approximately
$2 million in required land.
The Halifax waste water treatment plant (WWTP) is scheduled to be
operational late summer/fall 2006; Dartmouth WWTP summer 2007; and
the Herring Cove WWTP summer 2008.
–30--
Ted Tam
Project Manager, Harbour Solutions
(902) 490-6130
