Photo: Wayne Moore
The city of Kelowna pressed the brakes on the construction of the pedestrian overpass on Bertram Street.
Infrastructure General Manager McLogan told Castanet News that the project had been suspended for at least a year due to a strict budget.
Logan says he made the decision after bids for the overpass were more than twice the $ 5.5 million budgeted for the project.
The city announced the project at auction late last year. There was a lot of interest, but in the end only two offers were received.
“They were so much higher than the budget compared to what we thought was reasonable in terms of recent inflation that it was not the right time to move on,” Logan said.
“We reviewed the offers one by one to try to understand why. It was all in both offers.
This includes labor costs, materials and fuel.
The offers were received from the city in early March, a few weeks after the war in Ukraine, which Logan said led to some uncertainty about prices.
“We took a step back and said if that would change. Is the price likely to fall?
Labor will probably not fall, but the prices of materials and things like the price of fuel, we think we are jumping and there was a big risk, so we think we can get a better price if we withdraw it and announce it again later in the year. “
The plan is to return to the auction sometime in October for the beginning of 2023 in the hope of getting a better deal.
But while he hopes to save money by waiting, Logan also acknowledges that some of the current pressures are likely to mean the project will be 30 to 40 percent higher than budgeted.
The overpass, a link between the Central Green complex and the city center, was required by the province in exchange for permission to renovate the property.
Logan adds a $ 3.7 million federal grant to the project will not be affected by the delay.
Part of Bertram Street, closed to overpass infrastructure works, is expected to be “locked” and reopened soon.
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