Global News is reporting that "With the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant about $3 billion over budget, and Metro Vancouver facing a cost-cutting edict, demands for transparency and change are growing louder."
$ 3 Billion over budget? Who do you think that sounds like? This time it's Acciona. Based in Spain they are another criminal organization like SNC Lavlain.
They bid $525 million on the contract and it went way over budget to $3.86 billion. That is organized crime. They even had the audacity to sue for wrongful termination. They should be in jail. That's the only transparency we need.
The same with the Site C Dam. Way over budget. SNC Lavalin underbid and over charge government contracts. That's their MO. People need to start going to jail for this.
SNC Lavalin which is now called AtkinsRéalis and Acciona get preferred treatment on government contracts. They're automatically short listed. Given their past history they should be automatically banned. Giving them government contracts is organized crime. Acciona and SNC Lavalin partner on contracts. Turns out that SNC Lavalin pulled out of the bid for the Pattullo bridges because they don't participate in fixed-price projects. Sounds like they should all be fixed-price contracts.
I have worked at electrician on a many large jobs over the past 25 years plus. Back in the day jobs were quoted based on plans and they were complete on time and usually on budget or within 10%. Now the plans don't match the projects.. Engineering has gone offshore and they don't know codes or anythin close to the job being done. So many extras and cost plus item and reworked because the og plans approved by the local governments don't fly with the inspection departments and trades. So blame the government for always takingowest bids and the enigneers for being scammers.
ReplyDeleteTime to look at the evaluation and award process that selected this low ball bid. Who chose this proponent?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to discover exactly how much money has been stolen from us in the last 20 years. You have been outing SNC Lavalin for years, and crickets.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. However this new Acciona is just as bad. They should both be banned. It looks like the same gangsters behind SNC Lavalin are also behind Acciona.
DeleteIt wouldn't be a surprise. "We're a different company now". The heat is on SNC, then SNC "goes away". It's theft plain and simple.
DeleteSNC is protced by every damm politican in quebec. Its time for a new PM in Canada.
DeleteNot just Quebec. Every party in BC as well.
DeleteAs someone who works in construction, the problem is not only the bids being done and awarded off terrible and incomplete plans, but also the fact the architect fees are a percentage tied to the total cost of the project. The average public school has 1 to 2 million dollars in feature wood ceilings, that serve no purpose other then aesthetics. That's just the tip of the iceberg. When contractors offer cheaper alternatives, the architects refuse the change as it lowers how much they make.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the Auditor General for Local Government in BC? Did a former local government manager intentionally crash that department of the Province? I think it did good work, but was also used to by both the BC Liberals and NDP to leverage local governments to follow their policies. (Follow our policy, or be audited) It is interesting to see which local governments avoided audits, which received favourable audits, and which were unfavourable.
ReplyDeleteHave the unsuccessful proponents whose bids were higher than Acconia yet far less than what the scope creep has grown to launched disputes under NWPTA, CETA or requested a Judicial Review? If not, Bid Rigging should be investigated. This is where all proponents agree to bid prices that ensure a selected low bid proponent wins; knowing the overall cost will be inflated and they all split the extra profits at a predetermined rate. The Trades don’t care because they work no matter what. In fact, the profits are often laundered through contracts with contractors that are connected or owned by the proponents who bid. If these guys aren’t fighting each other in court, they are colluding together.
ReplyDeleteContracts that aren't fixed price are a collusional scam between Ottawa and these parasites.
ReplyDeleteWell I’ve been involved in the construction industry for many years and have supplied material to this very sight, and trust me, not to take Acciona’s side on anything, it’s the whole supply chain behind the project, Sure Acciona bid the project based on current rates which at around the start of covid time everyone was just fishing for work and were undercutting everything from material to gravel to trucking , and once the industry picked back up, lafarge and mainland sand and gravel both raised their prices, there was I believe over 100 thousand tons of spoil material that came out from the site and replaced with over 250 thousand tons of gravel, and it’s these companies that gouged the prices and tried to undercut the truckers hauling material from poco and Abbotsford to North Vancouver , and with the traffic delays and per load delivery charge it was hard to get trucking and truckers knowing it was a money tree project, they refused to haul for cheap prices especially with the when the diesel prices went thru the roof with the liberal carbon tax, and contracted gravel suppliers like mainland sand and gravel, didn’t wanna discount the gravel and were trying to force the truckers to work and below market rates and the the truckers eventually kicked back and refused so companies went back to Acciona and demanded more money for transportation or threatened them with legal action because they would hold a separate contract for the lump sum gravel price to give them a slight discount over retail pricing and state that trucking was just a seperate added on service and advised Acciona to find their own trucking, which is near impossible to find in the summer time. I can first hand say that I’ve had direct dealings with general manager Jeff Davis and the sale manager Chris at mainland sand and gravel and those 2 are a real peace of work especially the Jeff Davis guy, word from truckers is that he married into the old owners which was the carlsons family and stroked and sucked them all off to get to the position he’s in and probably got some chapped lips along the way, because he would last 2 mins in the real world labour market and tries to throw weight around that he’ll get people banned in the industry so they’ll never get a job in the construction industry, so yeah with that attitude and talking down to customers is his way of making himself feel important. Thumbs up to that complete idiot, taking kickbacks and bonuses for the perfect cocktail because he thinks when the carlsons sold they left him out to dry and just filled his wife’s account and the kids, but only paid off his mortgage. And then you have lafarge who also double dipped in the whole project raising concrete prices after 25 percent of the project was completed. So trust me Acciona can’t be blamed on the rising cost, it’s the suppliers that showed no mercy, no commitment to honour the prices they provided when the project was bid on and then with the covid shutdown , instead of delaying the contract by phases and honouring the same prices , they went ahead with their price increases and Acciona had no choice but to accept the higher cost. The Abbotsford flooding, which blocked all access to the quarries for the cheaper gravel, Acciona got gouged again by these same suppliers because they wouldn’t discount the gravel from the local depots, to compensate the emergency shut down in Abbotsford, yet they charged full rate from the local depots until their were depleted very quickly in about a weeks time and then Acciona was completely cut off causing more delays. So believe me I’m not trying to say Acciona is a great company or no, I just know first hand that they were completely screwed over on this project by the suppliers, the government and the carbon tax on diesel that blew their costs thru the roof .
ReplyDeleteThat's a whole lot of bullsh*t. They bid $525 million. It went up to $860 million plus and additional 3 billion. There is absolutely no justification for that other than jail time and a permanent ban from future government contracts along with SNC Lavalin who do the exact same thing.
DeleteI'm not seeing how those two explanations contradict each other. Why aren't both true?
DeleteBudget overruns would explain going from $525 million to $860 million. It would not explain the additional 3 billion they laundered on the side. That was a criminal act.
DeleteAh, got it.
DeleteSounds like this prime for a Judicial Review. Again, there is no Auditor General for Local Government in BC anymore. Concrete gets poured and finished no matter who owns the project.
ReplyDelete