Next phases of Horsefly spillway project on the way

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

With Phase 1 done, the Municipal District of Taber is looking towards Phases 2 and 3 of the Horsefly Spillway project.

Phase 1 had an estimated cost of $22,195,050 million and the South Regional Drainage Committee received partial funding ($7,397,610) from the provincial government under the Alberta Community Regional Partnership (ACRP) program and partial funding ($8,878,049) from the federal government under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure (ICIP) program.

The remaining portion ($5,919.391) is to be funded by participating members of the South Regional Drainage Committee. Phases 2 and 3 are estimated at $24,919,950.

“This is a similar request for decision was presented to the South Regional Storm Drainage Committee and they did receive that recommendation,” explained CAO Arlos Crofts at the M.D. of Taber’s regular meeting on July 27. “In turn, they made a motion to recommend to the M.D. of Taber council, which is the managing body for this grant application, to award the provision of engineering services to MPE/Stantec as outlined in the RFD. So, this is specifically speaking for Phases 2 and 3 of the Horsefly project.”

Two engineering firms — Wood and MPE/Stantec — put proposals in before the deadline period. MPE/Stantec was successful in getting the job to provide engineering services for Phase 1 of the Horsefly Spillway project.

Phase 1 was from Taber Lake to the Oldman River, Phase 2 is from Horsefly Reservoir to Taber Lake and Phase 3 is from the SMRID main canal to Horsefly Reservoir.

At the end of August, the portion of the project has received $12,990,690 in provincial ACRP funding and $9,880,000 under the Federal Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund (DMAF).  Now, the M.D. of Taber is waiting to finalize and sign the DMAF agreement and the estimated remaining portion for Phases 2 and 3 is $2,049,260 which will be funded by the participating members of the committee.

“We’d already engaged MPE/Stantec for Phase 1 a while back and this is engineering services for Phase 2 and 3. Having the same firm doing them and working on all phases would be way more advantageous than hiring anybody else,” added Reeve Merrill Harris.

A motion to approve the recommendation from the South Regional Drainage Committee to award the provision of engineering services for Phase 2 and 3 of the Horsefly Emergency Spillway Project to MPE/Stantec at an upset fee of $2,098,860 plus GST, was carried.

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