B.C.’s transportation minister says the George Massey Tunnel replacement will now cost about $8.5 billion — nearly twice the 2021 estimate of $4.15 billion for a new eight-lane submersed-tube tunnel beneath the Fraser River.
But the federal government has also promised to kick in $3 billion as part of a memorandum of understanding recently signed with the province.
“This updated budget reflects today’s market conditions, inflation, project scope, and the realities of delivering a project of this size and complexity,” Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth said on Monday (July 6).
And despite the recent cancellation of the contract with Cross Fraser Partnership to replace the aging four-lane tunnel, Farnworth says the project will proceed as planned, with pre-construction work underway, the environmental assessment process expected to conclude by the end of this year, and major work to begin in 2027.
Completion is now expected by September of 2031, rather than December of 2030.
Farnworth said the decision to change contractors was to ensure the “best possible value” for taxpayers.
He also says the new cost estimate does not change anything about the project, and will not include more features, such as a long-sought-after second exit in Ladner.
“In terms of the second exit, I know that’s something that Delta would like,” he said. “At this point, that is not part of the overall project. That’s not to say that it cannot be, in the future.”
Farnworth also says a federal contribution was expected all along.
“We have always made it clear that we expected a federal contribution,” he said. “That’s always been part of our calculus.”
Ian Paton, the B.C. Conservative MLA representing Delta South, questions how the government can get the project finished by 2031 if the environmental assessment is still not done, and the contractor was just fired.
“There’s no talk of who’s even going to build this tunnel,” Paton told Black Press Media. “And yet, they’re saying, don’t worry, it’s going to cost $8.5 billion, and it’ll be completed by 2031.”
Paton says the B.C. government should have gone ahead with a proposed bridge project in 2017, which he believes would be finished by now at a fraction of the cost.
And he argues that would have helped make things like a second Ladner exit easier to fit in and fix the bottlenecks.
“It’s just becoming more and more congested,” Paton said.