|
Wind turbine blades moving by rail - Date/Photographer unknown.
15 January 2013
City to Pay More Than Double for
C.S. Wind Railway Spur
Windsor Ontario - Windsor has to dig up an extra $2.3 million after the cost of its pledge to pay to connect wind tower manufacturer
C.S. Wind Canada to a nearby railway line more than doubled.
City council on Monday will be asked to approve spending almost $4.3 million on a spur from the CP Railway main line. Council set aside only $2 million for the
project in its 2011 capital budget.
With the originally approved $8 million in required land acquisitions, it puts the municipality's investment toward luring the South Korea-based company to
Windsor at $12.3 million.
"It's a surprise we don't like to have," said Ward 9 Coun. Hilary Payne.
"The initial estimate turned out quite a bit low," said city engineer Mario Sonego. "I'm disappointed... 95 percent of our projects are on
budget or under budget, but a few of them, this is one, can be surprises."
Building the spur line was part of the city's agreement with C.S. Wind, a junior partner of South Korea giant Samsung, which signed a $7-billion renewable
energy deal with the province. Sonego said the railway spur remains an "essential" element of the Windsor company's plans to expand its business in
North America.
While a number of Windsor-based green energy companies have recently failed, including Siliken SA, Windtronics, Uni-Solar, C.S. Wind is touted as a success
story, with about 270 of an originally promised 300 workers now churning out the giant turbine towers.
Human resources manager M.J. Kim said Monday that the company is hiring 10 more workers, with the possibility of increasing that number further,
"depending on production."
SLR Contracting Group Inc. submitted the lowest among five bids for the spur line work, with city administration recommending that council approve its tender
price of $3,133,230.50. Additional costs for the project include $665,000 to CP Rail for rail switches, and changes to its train signalling system, as well as
engineering consulting costs of $526,605.
The total tab for the spur line is just over $4.5 million, with an anticipated cost recovery from C.S. Wind of $250,000, according to a city engineer's
report.
The rail spur line is just part of the total project cost, with relocation of the Lachance Drain and utilities and unforeseen environmental mitigation costs
adding to the overall price. In December, the city got approval from Ontario's environment minister to proceed without a more comprehensive environmental
assessment that had been requested by a local intervener.
The staff report also refers to an in-camera memo that points out "possible risks which could potentially result in litigation" from an abutting
property owner. The report doesn't name the landowner, but an appendix shows a letter written by Pointe East Windsor Limited, which owns adjacent vacant land,
to the province: "We strongly believe that the construction of the railway spur line will cause significant damage and loss in value" to its
holdings.
Mayor Eddie Francis said the new railway spur will run through "a very attractive piece of city-owned land" that has triggered some interest for
additional industrial development in that area south of E.C. Row Expressway and east of Lauzon Parkway.
C.S. Wind, located in a former Valiant Group production facility, shipped its first Windsor-built steel towers last April. The company's Kim said 160 towers
were built in 2012 with the expectation that 300 will be manufactured this year.
Doug Schmidt.
Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada
|