A local company has been awarded the tender to rebuild the north leg of Highway 47 through Estevan.
It was announced at Monday's regular meeting of council that Souris Valley Paving was the lone firm to bid on the contract, which has a price tag of almost $3.2 million.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said Souris Valley's initial tender actually came in at roughly $4.6 million to complete all of the work, which was well over $1 million higher than the City had budgeted.
Ludwig said because of that the City was forced to scale back and will now repave from Wellock Road to the CP Rail tracks and King Street from Cundall Drive to the 13th Avenue intersection. There is also work on manholes, curbs and gutters that will be carried out as part of the project. Ludwig added the watermain and storm sewer will be replaced on King Street.
The City had also wanted to repave 13th Avenue from Sixth Street to Fourth Street, Sixth Street from 13th Avenue to Souris Avenue and Souris Avenue from Sixth Street to Fourth Street but will have to delay that work until 2014.
"You never know when you put out tenders what you are going to get," Ludwig said when asked if he was disappointed the entire job would not be completed this year. "We do understand costs are what they are and the price of oil isn't going down much. Having said that we are looking forward to Souris doing the job and we'll break it up over two years and finish the other portion next year."
Asked if he is concerned that companies from outside Estevan have expressed no interest in bidding on local projects, Ludwig said the City feels that is due to the busy pace of construction throughout the province.
"Regina is flat out, Saskatoon is flat out, Swift Current you pick any city, they're just so busy. Normally some of the paving companies would bid but they just have their own cities. The other issue, and let's be honest, with Estevan is housing and can they get their men in proper accommodations."
It's expected the work will begin in early July and will take over two months to complete. The report presented at Monday's meeting pegged the completion date at Sept. 20 and that Souris Valley will be charged a penalty of $4,000 a day if the project is not complete.
