Acciona, the company Metro Vancouver fired from the beleaguered North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant contract, is calling out the Metro Vancouver board chair’s office for spreading “misinformation” about their role in the botched infrastructure project, which is years behind schedule and more than $3 billion over budget.
North Shore taxpayers will be paying about $590 annually for the next 30 years just to cover the cost overruns on the project, and Metro Vancouver and Acciona are now engaged in duelling lawsuits with one another.
A letter from the company’s North American director for infrastructure to board chair Mike Hurley accuses the regional authority of misleading the public as to why the project went so far off track.
“Specifically, it appears that incorrect information may have been provided to you in the drafting of your public statements this fall and related backgrounder on this issue,” the letter states. “Since then, this same misinformation has been repeated in important presentations by Metro Vancouver executives, and on your government website. As a result, we are concerned that your fellow councillors, the media and the public may continue to be misled on a number of important issues.”
The letter includes a six-page attachment listing numerous assertions made in the company’s $250-million lawsuit filed against Metro Vancouver in 2022, key among them: that Acciona identified “fundamental issues” in completion of the project and offered alternative measures to have the project done by 2025 at a cost of $1.05 billion.
“Due to Metro Vancouver’s own actions and decision making, we understand that the project will now cost almost $4 billion with an estimated completion of 2030,” the letter states.
Metro Vancouver filed its own claim in 2022 asking the courts for an order requiring Acciona to pay $500 million back to taxpayers. Acciona failed to properly interpret, understand and implement the project specifications, resulting in errors and delays, the claim asserted.
Neither side’s claims have been heard in court, and so all of the allegations are unproven.
Metro Vancouver responds
Hurley released a statement in response to Acciona’s missive on Wednesday, roundly flushing it.
“Nothing in this letter is new information. The communication received from Acciona is, unfortunately, nothing more than positioning for the purposes of the litigation,” he said. “This is very frustrating, as Acciona’s assertions are incorrect and do not reflect the whole story. Metro Vancouver looks forward to the court’s assessment of Acciona’s actual performance and conduct on the project.”
Hurley added that he stands by Metro’s decision to axe Acciona from the contract and that the board “remains committed to protecting the interests of our region by delivering this project and ensuring that the end product is a high quality and long-lasting treatment plant.”
Calls for public inquiry
District of North Vancouver Coun. Catherine Pope, who has been among the most active in demanding transparency in the scandal, said Thursday that the letter raises a lot of concerns that can only be properly answered with a full public inquiry.
“I think it’s posturing on both sides because Metro has been putting out these statements for several months now with their version of events, so I think Acciona is just pushing back a bit,” she said. “But it continues to raise questions about the way things have been done and mismanaged.”
Pope said one of the biggest questions is whether Metro chose the wrong site for the plant, dooming the project to complications at the design and building stage.
“Why was it so small? And are we now paying the price for sticking with those decisions?” she asked, adding that taxpayers deserve clarity before they have to pay for any other new treatment plants, including the Iona plant replacement, which is already projected to cost $9.9 billion. “So much information is just not being divulged. And that’s what really concerns me about this project and about the other projects going forward.”
On Nov. 4, district council passed a motion from Pope calling for an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of the boondoggle. Metro Vancouver has, to this point, only initiated an independent performance audit.
Pope said recent comments made by Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Khalon acknowledging taxpayers’ need for transparency on the project is a good sign.
