Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors has determined that a review of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant Program is “not in the public interest” while the region remains involved in litigation with former project contractor Acciona.
The Spain-based contractor was removed from the project in early 2022 and filed a civil lawsuit against Metro Vancouver in March of that year.
The parties are currently scheduled to go to trial in March 2027.
“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,” said Randal Kaardal, a senior litigator at Hunter Litigation Chambers, which was retained to develop the scope and terms of reference for the review and the process of selecting an independent, qualified reviewer.
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Metro Vancouver’s Board Chair publicly announced intent to launch an independent review of the project in June 2024.
The North Shore project has quintupled its original budget and is on track to miss its 2023 completion target by seven years. The project’s full anticipated price tag remains at $3.86 billion.
In 2022, uproar followed crew size reductions that regional officials said exacerbated already significant construction delays. The region alleges Acciona laid off about 130 staff without notice.
In March 2022, Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP filed a $250-million suit from the project that alleged Metro Vancouver requested more than 1,000 major changes and alterations to the wastewater project, resulting in “numerous conflicts, inconsistencies, and impossibilities in the requirements” of the agreement. Acciona’s suit is focused on breaches of contractual obligations, and wrongful termination of the project agreement.
Acciona had also been highly skeptical of the North Shore plant’s site selection, calling it “significantly smaller than sites usually selected for projects of a comparable scale.” Acciona is arguing that the project site is irregular in shape and is surrounded by existing infrastructure in close proximity.
The region filed a countersuit on June 15, 2022, for more than $1 billion over what officials allege as a breach of the North Shore agreement, including “material” breaches.
Following the region’s pause on the North Shore review at its regular monthly meeting on July 25, which sparked widespread criticism, Metro Vancouver released an additional statement and a full timeline of events just days later to show its commitment to transparency around the beleaguered wastewater project.
Construction of the North Shore plant ramped up in early 2025 following confirmation of new contract details with PCL Construction.
The overall project also includes construction of the First Narrows Pump Station and conveyance pipes to move wastewater from West Vancouver to the new treatment plant, and to move treated wastewater from the new plant to the existing outfall pipe near the Lions Gate Bridge, which will remain in service. It also includes preliminary design for decommissioning the existing Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant.
