Local companies need to get going quickly to capitalize on the billion-dollar hydro revitalization project.
Steve Watson of BC Hydro recently told city council that hundreds of jobs will be created through the upcoming replacement of the John Hart Generating Station.
And the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce is planning to offer assistance in securing some of those job opportunities.
The Chamber, along with the Vancouver Island Construction Association and the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance, are forming partnership that will help local businesses compete for jobs.
Watson said the project will create about 400 jobs a year.
“I would encourage community leaders to meet with the bidders early on,” said Watson.
The John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project’s procurement process formally begins mid-2011 with a request for qualifications, followed by a request for proposal to short-listed proponents in late 2011 with the project awarded by late 2012. Construction could begin at the end of 2012 and last for about five years.
“It’s very beneficial that BC Hydro is sharing preliminary information about the replacement project so early in the procurement process,” said Colleen Evans, the Chamber’s executive director. “It gives us the ability to work together as a community to prepare for the project as it nears construction.”
The Vancouver Island Construction Association, for its part, will work with BC Hydro to showcase local businesses.
“In a procurement process for a large project like John Hart, our membership is not typically contacted by the competing proponents,” said association president Greg Baynton. “If they are contacted, it would not be until the contract has been formally awarded.
“To be engaged by BC Hydro months before the formal initiation of the procurement process, is helpful in encouraging the proponents to communicate with business leaders after the request for tender is issued and before the award.”
The scope of the John Hart Dam replacement project includes replacing the three steel pipelines from the John Hart Reservoir with a two-kilometre tunnel, constructing a new generating station and re-doing the Brewster Lake Road bridge.
BC Hydro and community business leaders will begin sharing information about the project with companies and customers in Campbell River, and across Vancouver Island, in April.
Through the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance’s “Linking Island Businesses” event on April 13, BC Hydro will present information about the project, including procurement and high level construction information and then again the following day, on April 14, at a BC Hydro-sponsored chamber of commerce luncheon.
For more information about the luncheon, call 250-287-4636 or visitwww.campbellriverchamber.ca