Kimberley City Council received an update on the flume project phase 2 this week.
Completion of the project is now scheduled for mid-December, although the contractor Copcan has confirmed that time could be shortened by good weather and bringing in some additional crews.
The project is also going to come in over budget some $60,000 or about 1.5 per cent of total cost.
“Everybody sees the progress, so questions about what we are doing have subsided,” said Mayor Don McCormick, who says he regularly joins onlookers on the Wallinger Avenue Bridge to take part in Kimberley’s newest sport — flume watching.
“Everyone is ecstatic at the amazing change in our downtown. But questions have shifted to dollars. The budget is $3.74 million and we are projecting to be over by $60,000. I think that’s well within tolerances for a project this big.
“But you can’t rest on that. Things could still go sideways so we are keeping a very close eye on it.”
McCormick says the upper level of phase 2, above the Wallinger bridge, will be wrapped up in two weeks. The lower portion is behind by four to five weeks.
Much of that delay was caused by waiting for engineering decisions around BJs Restaurant, which sits very close to the excavation.
“Now that we are underway, that section is going well,” McCormick said. “There is no dollar amount affected by the delay. The work to be done is not dependent on a schedule.”
All in all, McCormick says he is satisfied with the project thus far.
“I am really encouraged by the positive comments I am hearing and the general enthusiasm people are showing. It will cost a bit more but it will be such an asset to Kimberley.”
A final report and accounting to the community will be coming at the end of the project, he says.
“I fully intend to do that and I won’t pull any punches. But it will be in context of an amazing project that will benefit the community for generations.”
