VANCOUVER: Acting-AG says no guarantee final price tag will be $883.2m
JOHN BERMINGHAM
Province
The convention centre expansion under construction on Vancouver’s waterfront yesterday. GERRY KAHRMANN — THE PROVINCE
Don’t rule out more cost overruns at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
In his report on the project next to the Pan Pacific Hotel on Vancouver’s waterfront, acting auditor-general Errol Price said there’s no guarantee the final price tag will stay at $883.2 million — which is already nearly double its original estimate.
“There’s still a long way to go on the project,” Price told The Province yesterday.
The B.C. government rushed the project to get it done before the 2010 Olympics, he said. Ground for the centre was broken even before its final design was completed, he said.
The Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project board of directors estimated construction costs would rise by only five per cent a year. In fact, they jumped by an average of 11 per cent a year. Price labelled the cost spiral “a perfect storm,” adding, “The inflation in the construction industry took everybody by surprise.” Complications also cropped up during pile-driving, and there was a shortage of key equipment.
Price said the project’s board “painted a rosier picture” than existed but was slow to react when costs started climbing in 2006. Price said the board should publish monthly reports updating the public on the project’s cost.
Property developer David Podmore, who was brought in this year to see the project through to 2009, vowed that the cost will not exceed the current $883.2-million estimate.
“That is the bottom line,” said Podmore, adding that 85 per cent of the construction costs are now fixed.
He rejected the suggestion that the project was rammed through to meet the 2010 deadline. “I don’t feel that the project has been rushed, and I don’t feel it’s been driven by the Olympics,” he said. “It’s not a boondoggle. The reaction I get [from the public] is that they are very pleased with the progress of the project.”
Convention bookings have risen from 54 to 77 in recent months, equal to 1.1 million delegate days.
NDP Leader Carole James said the government “has completely mismanaged a very large project with huge costs for the taxpayer. Ultimately, the premier [Gordon Campbell] has to carry the can for this.” $499.6 million, with the rest from the federal government and Tourism Vancouver. The three fast ferries were budgeted by the NDP at $210 million, but cost $454 million.
James said the government rushed through the project, then hid the rising costs.
As opposition leader and then premier, Campbell should have learned from NDP mistakes in managing mega-projects like the fast ferries, she said.