Chilliwack scaling back airport upgrades after estimate misses $5M in construction costs

The Chilliwack Airport won’t be getting a runway extension after an initial estimate from SNC Lavalin was off by about $5 million.

A report was delivered to Chilliwack city council on Tuesday, explaining that SNC Lavalin’s estimate failed to include construction costs.

“The primary reason that SNC Lavalin’s construction cost estimate was exceedingly low was due to the fact that it did not include labour and installation costs,” the report says.

The city only found out about the shortfall after the project reached the detailed design phase and received $1.9 million in grant funding from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Engineering Director Kara Jefford explained the second budget was prepared by Stantec, and it came in at a much higher amount than the SNC Lavalin estimate.

“That caused us to go back and look at the estimate that was provided earlier by the other consultant and we realized it really missed out on some key things. The primary one being labour and equipment,” she told councillors.

Mayor Ken Popove was left dumbfounded, responding with “W-T-F” and suggesting someone at SNC Lavalin should be fired over the erroneous estimate.

“The city’s not in the business of building runways,” he said.

“We rely on these consultants to give us the proper information to move forward with the grant proposals … that’s disappointing to hear how all that turned out.”

But it’s not all a loss. The city will still use the grant funding and the budget it has available to upgrade lighting for the runway.

The city plans to expand the runway at a later date, when it has the money it place to get it done.