Green Party boss wants investigation after reported Port Mann cost overruns

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – BC’s Green Party leader is demanding an independent investigation of reported major cost overruns following construction of the new Port Mann Bridge and now there is the possibility of police involvement.

After learning taxpayers may have spent $150 million too much on the $3.3 billion project, Andrew Weaver says the RCMP would be a good choice to investigate. “There are others [like] the auditor general or even others that could look into this.

Certainly, there looks to be some things that need to be investigated quite thoroughly and we would welcome all investigations that are deemed necessary.”

Hundreds of documents leaked to the CBC suggest several accounting problems that apparently show the former BC government overpaid millions of dollars to speed up work on the once-tolled crossing.

Weaver says that apparent lack of oversight is nothing short of troubling. “Also there are questions that arise with respect to why this project was accelerated and to the extent that this was done inappropriately. There are all sorts of questions that need to be asked out of this. This is why we elect a government and we have a civil service to ensure that the public oversight of public funds. And more questions need to be asked is: what is the role of government in the oversight? Where was the internal checks and balances? A public inquiry, I would believe, is very important.”

NDP doesn’t rule out investigation

Speaking on behalf of the new NDP government, Housing Minister Selina Robinson says all British Columbians should be upset about this. “Certainly, the BC Liberal government had a certain way of making sure that their choices took care of their friends while they were making cuts to healthcare and education. Money being shovelled out to contracts, when in fact, that didn’t need to happen.”

Robinson’s not saying yet if the RCMP will be asked to get involved, but a review is in the works. “I think we need to recognize that this was under the BC Liberals watch. These were their choices. These were their actions and all British Columbians should be outraged.”

She says her government will also look at whether any other projects under the BC Liberals may have been compromised.

BC Liberals respond to scathing accusations

BC Liberal Todd Stone, who was the transportation minister at the time the bridge was being built, says the project was both on budget and he was never aware of any cost overruns.

“There was no concerns that were expressed to me from ministry staff or TI Corp. staff that anything untoward was done here. As there always is with projects of this size, there were some significant change orders related to different components of the project, most notably the Cape Horn Interchange which, my understanding, was that there was some significant challenges encountered with respect to utility moves. That added some additional costs to the contractor, but those change orders were all subject to very robust scrutiny and oversight — both within TI Corp. and without.”

Stone says there were about $300 million worth of change orders, but again, much of that money was invested around problems with the Cape Horn. “I believe there was also a need in the middle of the project to change gravel suppliers which was in direct response to community concerns near a gravel pit that was relatively close to the project. TI Corp. and the contractor negotiated and were able to bring those change orders down to $100 million. At the end of the day, that was all accounted for and covered within the contingency that had been allocated within the overall project.”

He says what people should care about is the fact the bridge was built on time and, what he claims, was on budget and that it “addressed the number one congestion point in the Lower Mainland at that point.”

Stone admits there were points in the project that crews did fall behind, but insists everything balanced out at the end of the day.

Executives with the crown corporation responsible for managing the bridge insist taxpayers actually saved $200 million while the bridge was built.