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IN OUR VIEW: Symptom of costly infrastructure

How can we build the vital infrastructure we need without breaking the bank?
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Rendering of future North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant from 2017, before the project went off the rails.

It's been just a few weeks since most folks paid their property taxes, and everyone in Metro Vancouver got dinged.

Not by their local municipal government, but by the ongoing debacle of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Metro Vancouver share of property taxes for the Fraser area – Delta, 91Ô­´´, and Surrey – went up by 20.9 per cent. It could be worse, though. North Shore landowners saw a 41 per cent jump, since they're bearing the brunt of the increase.

The most recent update on the saga came to us on Friday, July 25 from Metro Vancouver, when the region announced it was pressing pause on a review of the overall mess, at least until the ongoing lawsuits involving the first contractor on the project is concluded.

The saga is expected to go before a judge in 2027, so it might be a while.

Seven years ago, construction started on a badly needed new plant. Standards for treating sewage waste are higher these days (we don't like to flush half-treated waste straight into the ocean anymore), and the work needed to be done. 

Unfortunately, it soon ground to a halt, and by 2021, Metro had cut ties with the contractor, Acciona. Acciona sued for $500 million. Metro sued back for $1 billion, and the entire matter is now tied up in litigation involving literally millions of documents.

Meanwhile, the cost of the plant has spiralled from just over $1 billion to an estimated $3.86 billion. That is what a good chunk of those increases on property tax bills are about.

We need sewage treatment and clean water. And we need them at a reasonable price.

The court cases will determine a good deal, but the report that's now been delayed is likely more important.

Taxpayers here, and across Canada, could benefit from a truly in-depth report that answers two questions.

First, what went wrong with this project?

Second, how can we bring down the cost of major infrastructure construction?

Between inflation and ever-increasing sophistication of everything from transit systems to sewers to the electrical grid, our infrastructure costs are shooting up like a rocket. We need to know why, on a systemic level, and more importantly, we need to know how to rein in those costs again.