Arenes Construction Ltd. has been awarded the contract for the installation of permanent concrete waste ramps at nine District of Muskoka transfer stations in the amount of $1,059,254 (excluding HST).
According to a municipal staff report, temporary barriers were rented and installed in August 2023 to “mitigate potential fall hazards and create a safer waste drop-off experience.” The report notes that the temporary barriers caused some challenges with lifting materials over the barriers, and where these challenges occurred, residents were redirected to the Rosewarne Landfill.
It also notes that the rental of the barriers costs the District $9,600 per month or $115,200 per calendar year (excluding non-recoverable HST), which represents 37% of the transfer station budget.
In 2024, Tatham Engineering was retained to design permanent safety barriers for the elevated waste ramps at District transfer stations with final drawings provided in November 2024 and reviewed by the District operations team.
“The original submission from Arenes Construction… was $1,157,054 which is above the approved budget of $864,800,” noted staff who entered into a negotiation with the sole bidder and managed to reduce the cost by $97,800 “a result of overall reduction in total steel and concrete required that were not impactful on the design loading considerations for the barriers.”
Disruptions to the transfer sites will be communicated as work gets underway.
You can find the staff report HERE.
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I simply can’t wait to see what obstacle course we get for 1,059,254 plus probably HST (not mentioned) plus the cost for Tatham (not mentioned) plus the last year’s cost of 115,260.00 plus the HST (probably 14,983.80).
I am waiting for this improvement.
By the way, why does a government pay a different arm of government HST at all? This has never made any sense.
Another example of taxpayer money wasted, a 12 foot barrier is worth $900, how long did the district waste money renting these barriers?
I’d guess 1 month rent would have paid for them and when finished they would own the barriers for future use.