Work starting soon

The Lab. West MHA expects steel to be going up soon for the new college campus.

Jim Baker said the tender for the new College of the North Atlantic closed July 10 and even though the contract hasn't been awarded yet, Colby Construction was the low bidder.

"The lowest bid was $18 million," he said. "It's a bit higher than we originally estimated, so with entire construction costs we're now looking at $22 million. We were only expecting $18 million total."

The contract, Baker noted, will be awarded sometime this week and in the meantime, H.J. O'Connell Construction is working on the site development while CGI Development works on the water and sewer.

O'Connell's, he said, expects to be finished with the site work this week, and construction of the one-storey facility with a two-storey shop should start shortly after that.

"The college will be first at the top of the hill," he explained the location. "We expect to see the concrete work and hopefully some steel work this year. I don't know (if it'll be closed in before the winter). It depends on how fast the contractor can move." Baker admitted the tender for the college was opened longer than most, but it's a fairly complex project including mechanical and electrical work and potential bidders asked government for more time to do detailed cost estimates.

He recognizes people are impatient and would like to see more going ahead at the college site, but it takes time to build a facility.

"We will see it done," he said. "It's longer than we hoped for originally - the year delay with the site didn't help matters - but we still anticipate it will open in 2011. Nothing is cast in stone, anything can happen, but that's the expectation."

Baker said there have been a lot of questions about the pace of all provincial projects this year, but he added it's important to remember there's a lot happening this summer.

The Department of Transportation and Works, he pointed out, takes care of all infrastructure projects, but he thinks Labrador West has been getting high priority and he will continue to push for speed and efficiency as the months roll on.

Labrador West MHA Jim Baker said it isn't unusual for a contract as big as laying 80 km of asphalt on the Trans Labrador Highway to be done over two years. He said pavement will be put down in August and the amount done will depend on weather conditions. File photo