The Government of British Columbia has terminated its agreement with the contractor chosen two years ago to design and build the new replacement George Massey Tunnel.<\/p>\n
The provincial government is now moving forward with a new bidding process to seek a new team of contractors.<\/p>\n
This reverses the previous contract award announced in July 2024 to a private consortium called Cross Fraser Partnership<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a group comprised of various major European firms with previous proven experience in building major tunnel projects, as well as some Canadian firms.<\/p>\n Cross Fraser Partnership was led by the Canadian division of France-based Bouygues Construction, in partnership with Spanish construction company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, Quebec-based Pomerleau, architectural and engineering firm Arcadis (formerly known as IBI Group), and Netherlands-based dredging and marine services firm Boskalis.<\/p>\n Bouygues is perhaps best known for playing a key part in building the 50-km-long Channel Tunnel, also known as the Chunnel, between France and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n The new tunnel is envisioned as an eight-lane immersed tunnel \u2014 four vehicle lanes in each direction \u2014 with a separate tunnel between both vehicle directions for pedestrians and cyclists. Upon completion, the existing 1959-built, four-lane George Massey Tunnel, which is seismically vulnerable, will be decommissioned and removed.<\/p>\n This contract termination announcement was made today, with the project now targeted to begin major construction work in 2027 \u2014 instead of in 2026. The provincial government\u2019s environmental assessment process first began in 2021 and was originally expected to conclude by late 2024 or 2025, but this key step before major construction can begin is now anticipated to reach the finish line by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n The provincial government has been working with Cross Fraser Partnership since September 2024 on a design and early works agreement on the project\u2019s detailed design, technical studies, and early construction work, while working on a potential final construction agreement.<\/p>\n According to the provincial government, they made \u201csignificant progress\u201d on the design and current construction work with the European-led team, but a final agreement was not reached.<\/p>\n The provincial government exercised its \u201ctermination option\u201d that was built into the process, which \u201cwill allow the Province to retender this work to seek the best value,\u201d with a focus on seeking more local contractors.<\/p>\n While Cross Fraser Partnership was selected in a bidding process that sought one major contractor to be responsible for all aspects of design and construction, the new bidding process will split up the work into several separate smaller packages \u2014 similar to the approach taken for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension project<\/a> and the Fraser Valley Highway 1 expansion and improvement project. The provincial government asserts breaking up the contract work will strengthen competition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve received good value from the contractor and have made steady progress with the design, thanks to their work. However, this project is critical to British Columbia\u2019s future, and we are taking this back to a competitive process to seek the best possible value for taxpayers,\u201d said Mike Farnworth, B.C. minister of transportation and transit, in a statement this afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the market is hungry for work on major infrastructure projects, and engagement with industry confirmed there is strong interest in competing for this project.\u201d<\/p>\n The first step of this new bidding process will seek qualified proponents, before entering the Request For Proposal (RFP) stage of a detailed bid submission. According to the provincial government, there is strong preliminary market interest from international and domestic contractors on this revised approach of splitting up the project into smaller contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cBy design, our process has a pre-existing termination option in case we could not reach mutually acceptable terms. We are well placed to leverage improving market competitiveness. Moving to a revised procurement model creates more opportunities for Canadian and local contractors to participate while ensuring this nation-building project is delivered in the most fiscally responsible way possible,\u201d continued Farnworth.<\/p>\n While a revised estimated construction cost was not provided, the provincial government\u2019s details and statements today strongly suggest the decision to go with a different approach relates to the cost of the project under Cross Fraser Partnership.<\/p>\n As it currently stands, the project\u2019s official publicly stated budget is $4.15 billion, which was a figure first made public in April 2021 as part of the project\u2019s business case process. But after years of very significant inflation for the market construction costs for materials, labour, and equipment, coupled with the complexities of such a project in the area, this figure is now extremely outdated.<\/p>\n Over the past few years, the provincial government has also been highly tight lipped about the project\u2019s revised costs, but the 2026 provincial budget released earlier this year hinted of changes to the cost and implementation schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although major construction work has yet to begin, preliminary construction work first started in January 2026, such as tree clearing, utility relocations, and preparation for the construction of a casting basin for the new tunnel\u2019s prefabricated immersed tunnel segments. This preliminary work can already be seen next to the entrances of the existing tunnel.<\/p>\n How did we get here?<\/p>\n Shortly after forming government in 2017, the BC NDP-led provincial government controversially cancelled the previous 10-lane George Massey Bridge project, which was just months away from starting major construction work.<\/p>\n The original bridge project by the last BC Liberals-led provincial government carried a $3.5 billion budget, with the provincial government\u2019s bidding process in 2017 attracting a bid as low as $2.6 billion \u2014 $900 million lower than the estimate<\/a>. Construction was expected to begin in late 2017, but it was cancelled by the BC NDP soon after the election that year, with provincial leaders at the time \u2014 premier John Horgan and B.C. transportation and infrastructure minister Claire Trevana \u2014 asserting that the bridge had too much capacity, and that it should not be tolled to cover its costs.<\/p>\n The BC NDP leadership also faced highly vocal bridge project cancellation calls by Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie \u2014 who took issue with the potential additional traffic issues a large bridge would bring to his jurisdiction, and strongly preferred upgrading the existing tunnel or building a new tunnel \u2014 and then-BC Green party leader Andrew Weaver.<\/p>\n That new bridge and the much more extensive Highway 99 corridor improvement projects were scheduled to reach full completion in 2022.<\/p>\n After cancelling the bridge, the BC NDP-led government formed a task force of select Metro Vancouver mayors \u2014 Brodie, Delta mayor George Harvie, Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie, Surrey mayor Doug McCallum, Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, and White Rock mayor Darryl Walker \u2014 to recommend a new approach. In 2019<\/a>, two years later, these mayors collectively recommended a new eight-lane bored tunnel.<\/p>\n