Construction on the problem-plagued $1-billion project to build a new sewage treatment plant in North Vancouver has reportedly ground to a halt this week, as part of a contract dispute between Metro Vancouver and its primary contractor, Acciona.

Gears stopped turning on the massive infrastructure project this week after lead contractor Acciona Wastewater Solutions laid off a significant number of workers, leaving only a skeleton crew.

Sources told the North Shore News that Acciona has laid off more than 200 workers on the site in recent months, with the latest round of layoffs this week.

Work at the site was shut down on Wednesday, they said.

Metro Vancouver Commissioner and CAO Jerry Dobrovolny said in a statement the government had learned on Wednesday “without notice” that Acciona had “significantly reduced staff working on the project.”

Sources told the North Shore News that Acciona indicated this week it had not been paid amounts owed by Metro Vancouver under its contract.

In response, Dobrovolny said the contractor has “fallen behind meeting key milestones,” which are reviewed by an independent party.

“At this point, Acciona Wastewater Solutions LP has not earned additional payment. We have made an effort to work together, but we expect them to honour all of the contract obligations,” he said Thursday. “Given they are years behind schedule for this project, we expect them to be increasing their efforts on site not reducing them as we saw yesterday,” he said Thursday.

The contract to build the treatment plant was reopened in 2019 to give the company two and a half more years to complete the project, Dobrovolny stated. Under the current contract, Acciona is supposed to complete the project by the end of 2023.

Dobrovolny added Metro Vancouver is now “actively assessing our options for how to proceed.”

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