Independent review of North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant overruns on hold

The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant is seen during construction in Fall 2020. (Metro Vancouver)

Metro Vancouver has put its independent review of the massively over-budget North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project on hold while it litigates the issue with the project’s former contractor.

The regional district announced the decision on Friday, saying it is “not in the public interest” to continue the review while its lawsuit against Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP – and the company’s counterclaim against Metro Vancouver – are before the courts.

The litigation is currently scheduled to go to trial in March 2027.

“After careful consideration, the board has decided the public interest is best served by resolving the legal dispute with the previous contractor before undertaking the review,” said Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, chair of Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors, in a statement Friday.

The board first launched the independent review process in June 2024, hiring retired judge John J.L. Hunter to “develop the scope and terms of reference for the review and the process of selecting an independent, qualified reviewer,” Metro Vancouver’s statement explains.

Hunter has since died, and his role is now being filled by Randal Kaardal, a senior litigator at his company Hunter Litigation Chambers.

Before his death, Hunter selected the MWGK Independent Review Team to conduct the review.

In the Metro Vancouver statement, Kaardal said delaying the review until the conclusion of the court process will result in more information being available to the reviewer.

“The litigation is a public process, and once the dispute with the former contractor has been resolved, the Metro Vancouver board and the reviewer would be in a better position to complete a review on any outstanding questions,” Kaardal said.

Metro Vancouver dismissed Acciona in October 2021, claiming that the company had “abandoned” the project, a claim Acciona says is not true.

The two sides are currently suing each other in B.C. Supreme Court, with Acciona alleging that Metro Vancouver has refused to pay it more than $100 million for work it completed on the site, and that the regional district made more than 1,000 requests for project modifications that led directly to the project’s ballooning cost.

For its part, Metro Vancouver says Acciona failed to meet project timelines and left it with “no choice” but to cancel the contract. Acciona blames the delays on Metro Vancouver’s “flawed design” and “interference” with the project.

Originally budgeted at roughly $700 million and expected to be completed by 2020, the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project is now moving forward with a different contractor at a cost of $3.86 billion – more than five times the original budget.

The anticipated completion date is now sometime in 2030.

• Read more: $3.86B North Shore wastewater project could cost taxpayers across Metro Vancouver
• ‘It’s disgusting’: Outrage grows over North Shore wastewater plant’s $3.86-billion budget