Ontario company to monitor remediation of tar ponds

By Tanya Collier Macdonald
Cape Breton Post
Thurs., June 16, 2005

Sydney - Conestoga-Rovers and Associates have been notified, although not formally, that they will monitor the remediation of the tar ponds cleanup.

An expression of interest was tendered in January in search of an independent engineering firm to watch over the $400 million project to remediate the tar ponds and coke ovens sites. The work is expected to take upward of 10 years to finish.

A senior official at the firm’s head office in Waterloo, Ont., said the firm has received notice of the tender award but a contract hasn’t been formalized.

On Nova Scotia’s public tenders office, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates is listed as one of seven companies that sent an expression of interest to the Department of Transportation and Public Works to provide the service.

Parker Donham, spokesperson for the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, said the contract has not been formally awarded. However, he did say the firm hired will be auditing the agency’s efforts during the cleanup.

Conestoga Rovers and Associates was the project management consultant for the planning phase of the cleanup.

tcmacdonald@cbpost.com