Deadline extended on tenders for tar ponds surface cap

Staff - Cape Breton Post
Cape Breton Post
Thur., Aug. 12, 2010

SYDNEY - The deadline for the tender call for the Sydney tar ponds surface cap has been extended. The tender was originally due to close Aug. 10, but it was extended by a week at the bidders’ request.

The next stop in the $400-million cleanup of the tar ponds and coke ovens will see the creation of a protective cap over treated tar ponds sediment. The project will allow the reclamation of 97 hectares of land for future green space development.

Treatment of the entire pond was due to be completed this month, followed by the construction of a channel to allow brook water and groundwater to flow through the site and into Sydney harbour.

The cap project, valued between $15-20 million, will include a grading/bedding layer, a geosynthetic clay layer, a geocomposit drainage layer, protective fill, topsoil and hydro seed.

Also designed to direct rain and groundwater into the engineered channel, the cap is considered the third step in a series of projects leading to the future development of the remediated site.

In 2007, the government of Canada and province of Nova Scotia committed the $400 million to ensure the cleanup is completed by 2014.