Milner Group Ventures Ltd. was awarded the land clearing contract for segments three and four of the West Shore Parkway project at the Monday meeting of Langford council.
The City received six qualified bids for the contract, with Milner's being the lowest at just under $244,000, including GST. The next lowest bid was roughly $100,000 more than Milner's bid, with three other bids averaging roughly $635,000 and the highest coming in at just under $834,000.
When asked about the wide range of bids for the project, Langford Mayor Stew Young wasn't concerned. "They do work all over the Island. They're a good company," he said, noting they have done work for the City in the past. "They've been in the business a long time … there's no issues there at all."
He said the City is only responsible for paying the contract price and not any overages. "It was a great price … It saves the taxpayers a lot of money."
At Monday's meeting, council also awarded the contract for West Shore Parkway segment six engineering consulting services to On Point Project Engineers Ltd. This segment is the last to have its contract for detailed engineering design awarded.
In a report, City staff advised council that should the work extend to a full 18-month construction period, the estimated fee for detailed design and construction management would be roughly$330,000 plus GST.
The bulk of construction for this segment will likely be completed within eight months or less but delays could be caused by a projected one year order time for rail arms, which are currently required at the railway crossing.
These contracts will be funded through the City's Road development cost charge program with an additional two-thirds of funding coming from the New Building Canada Infrastructure Grant Fund.
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