Montrea-based companies prohibited from conducting business
In a recent development, construction company Duroking has been chosen as the lowest bidder for a significant federal contract to reconfigure a 2.5-kilometer stretch of the Bonaventure Highway. The project aims to transform the trunk into an urban boulevard by 2029, with plans to make the river's edge accessible to the public again, featuring a bike path and pedestrian promenade.
The federal society managing the Jacques-Cartier and Samuel-De Champlain bridges, Les Ponts Jacques Cartier et Champlain Incorporated (PJCCI), is overseeing the project. The bid price of $7.2 million for the project is largely covered by grants from the Government of Quebec.
However, Duroking's selection has raised some eyebrows due to its history of poor performance in Montreal. The contract award appears to have been driven primarily by the bid price rather than past performance details. PJCCI has refused to confirm or deny information about Duroking's involvement in the project, and no specific information from the search results explains why other criteria beyond the bid price were considered or how Duroking's previous performance influenced the decision.
Despite this, it's worth noting that Duroking completed bank reinforcement work near the Bonaventure Highway last year, which was completed ahead of schedule. The results of Duroking's contract evaluation for the bank reinforcement work last year were excellent, according to PJCCI.
The project involves adding a green belt with a bike path and pedestrian trail to the artery. It is planned to plant 650 trees, 18,000 shrubs, and 13,000 perennials in the project. PJCCI implements safeguards to reduce potential delays in the project, and they have the authority to immediately adjust if they notice something isn't working.
The Bonaventure Highway work is projected on federal land, not Montreal's. The new boulevard will move traffic lanes away from the riverbank, reducing the road's footprint and heat islands by 40%. More than a dozen warnings related to contractual obligations were sent to Duroking over a two-year period by Montreal's Permanent Commission on Contract Examinations.
PJCCI evaluates the performance of companies after each contract, and those that do not meet established criteria may be excluded from subsequent contracts. The contract details for the Bonaventure Highway project will be made public in the coming weeks.
When approached by La Presse, Duroking's representation was unable to comment. Currently, Duroking is on Montreal's "gray list," preventing it from obtaining contracts for two years due to poor performance on a previous project in Pointe-Saint-Charles. The work on the Pointe-Saint-Charles project was initially planned for two years but took four years to complete, with one of the streets in the project having to be dug up and closed multiple times.
- The automotive industry may benefit from the improvements in public-transit and transportation on the Bonaventure Highway, given the highway's transformation.
- Financial implications of the project, such as funds provided by the Government of Quebec, will impact the construction industry as Duroking takes on the work.
- Despite past concerns about Duroking's performance in Montreal, their involvement in the Bonaventure Highway project is significant in the broader context of the finance and public-transit sectors.
