Sydney - A Bedford company and an Ontario firm have been awarded contracts worth millions of dollars as part of the cleanup of the Sydney tar ponds and coke ovens sites.

All-Tech Environmental Services Ltd. of Bedford snagged a two-year, $3.9-million contract to continue monitoring and evaluating air quality for the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency. "It’s going to be a lot of work," said company president Raymond Terrance Smith. "We’re going to be employing up to probably 25 people in Sydney."

All-Tech has already been working on the project for three years. "It’s difficult and it’s demanding because it’s driven by the government and the public," Smith said. "And we’re there to protect the public and the project. We’re doing the air testing to ensure that there are no emissions that are going to be affecting the public." Smith is originally from North Sydney. "I’m glad to see it’s being cleaned up," he said of the tar ponds and coke ovens sites.

Ottawa and the province have promised to spend $400 million to make sure the cleanup is done by 2014.

McNally Construction Inc. of Hamilton won a $3.8-million contract to remove contaminated material from the lower reaches of Coke Ovens Brook, from the Victoria Road overpass to Inglis Street, and to build a protective liner along the bottom of the brook. Work is expected to run from April to October. "There will be about 15 people who will work on this," said Greg Burke, McNally’s district manager for Atlantic Canada.

The company is already working on two contracts on the cleanup project in a joint venture with MB2 Excavating and Construction, which is based in Membertou. Those are worth about $52 million. McNally plans to bid on other aspects of the project, but Burke wouldn’t give specifics. "There is still some more work to come and we hope to be a part of it," he said.