Bad news: another $150 million needed to complete subway extension


Excal.on.ca
April 1, 2015
By Scarlett Kuang

The TTC board recently approved the hiring of a project management consultant company to oversee the Spadina-York subway extension.

This was announced on the TTC’s March 26 staff report, which also officially states the extension now has an opening date for the end of 2017.

The decision will add $150 million to the project’s $2.6 billion budget, with $70 million appropriated to the ongoing project, and $80 million to the external consultant.

Retaining a third party project manager will reportedly allow for a full reset of the strained TTC and contractor relationship. The two parties disputed on issues around premiums, incentives, and schedule adherence.

The budget overrun requires the City of Toronto to pay $90 million and York Region to pay $60 million.

TTC suggests Toronto fund its share through a number of mechanisms such as the TTC’s 2014 operating budget surplus, net property sales, and potential deferral of projects.

York Region voted to pay the additional money so that the subway can be extended to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre more quickly.

“As you know, the subway is an anchor, not only for the city of Vaughan, but for the region,” said Vaughan mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua.

“We need to show that we are fully engaged.”

According to the staff report, the overall project is now 70 per cent complete.

Not surprisingly, however, the York Station is only 35 per cent complete, which is likely due to the six-month pause following the death of a construction worker, Kyle Knox, in 2011.

The option to bring on a third party to oversee the project seems to be viable according to the TTC.

It has also been proposed that instead of hiring a sole-source company, a competitive bidding process would generate some savings.

This option, however, runs the risk of adding another six months to the project, which would offset any potential savings.

The other option is that the TTC remains as the project manager, which would result in a later operation date of mid- 2019 and an even higher budget overrun, according to TTC CEO Andy Byford.

“There were too many contractors involved. We absolutely had to simplify that project in order to protect time and budget,” said Byford.