Saturday, May 14, 2016

If No One Uses An Overpriced Ice Bomb Bridge In The Summer...


...Will It Melt Away?


And why might folks not be using the bridge in droves as the weather heats up?

Well...

In addition to the toll itself, there is that egregious userious overcharge if you don't cough up the dough right away:

The B.C. Supreme Court will hear arguments related to a lawsuit alleging illegal “late-payment charges” for tolls on the Port Mann Bridge at a class action application hearing before the end of 2016.

Jasper Lui had claimed that he missed paying $26.25 in toll charges in 2014, and said Transportation Investment Corporation — which oversees the bridge — billed him another $20 on top of the overdue payment.

Lawyer Nathaniel Hartney, who represents Lui, said on Thursday that the additional processing fee is illegal in Canada, since the law caps maximum interest per year at 60%...




But as for the melting away?

Likely not gonna happen, at least from a public payment point of view, given that Dermod Travis and Integrity BC have determined that the fixed price thing was a complete fiction from the get-go.

Because, in reality (i.e. not Dean-approved BC Liberal 'grocery list land'), it would appear that the IBB was at least $400 million over budget:

The original fixed price contract with Kiewit/Flatiron General Partnership to build the bridge was for $2.398-billion, documents obtained by Integrity BC show.

However the total amount paid to the Kiewit/Flatiron General Partnership is now $2.821-billion, according to research by Integrity BC.

“That’s more than $400-million. And it could get higher,” Travis said...




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Laila is on this one also.
We await the good Mr. Bateman of the CTF's comments on the ice balmy nine digit overrun given that... Well...You know.
Finally, if you care about how this province is being run (into the ground) and you are not following Integrity BC on the Twittmachine you are really missing out.



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1 comment:

North Van's Grumps said...

As it is with other money losing crown corporations eg. BC Hydro and ICBC they are still required to borrow money to pay a 'dividend' to the BC Government. Could it be that there is a dividend being collected from the Port Mann Bridge tolls, by borrowing money, of course, just so the budget is balanced?