Sechelt Mayor John Henderson
The District of Sechelt appears committed to pursuing a public-private partnership for its new $22.4 million sewage treatment plant. On February 5, Mayor John Henderson announced, “We have signed an initial agreement with Maple Reinders, the leaders of a consortium including Urban Systems and Veolia Water.”
The mayor intends to sign the contract in early-March and then only after that – on March 19 – hold an open house on the details of the deal. The Coast Reporter notes, “Construction on the new plant is expected to start soon with opening slated for September 2014.”
The newspaper adds, “The District has heard concerns about money that will need to be borrowed for the project, lack of local involvement in the decision-making process and the building of the new plant, guarantees the company will fix any problems that arise and exactly how the greenhouse and sewage treatment process will function.”
In terms of funding, as noted in a District of Sechelt media release, “Sechelt has received grants for this project totaling $8 million from the Federal Gas Tax Fund and $3.2 million from the Building Canada Fund. The remainder of the project funding will come from various sources including the Sechelt Indian Band (who has long been the Districtās partner in operating the wastewater treatment facilities) as well as possible additional grants and District of Sechelt financial resources.”
The District of Sechelt has a population of just over 8,000 people and is located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, about 50 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
For local media reports on this, please see http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20130222/SECHELT0101/302229975/-1/sechelt/mayor-address-treatment-plant-concerns and http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20130208/SECHELT0101/302089978/-1/sechelt/treatment-facility-a-first-in-north-america. The District’s media release is at http://www.district.sechelt.bc.ca/Live/CurrentDistrictProjects/WastewaterTreatmentFacilities.aspx.
