A BC Utilities Commission review of Site C projects cost overruns roughly equivalent to the cost of canceling the project.
In an executive summary released today, the key findings suggest that the completion costs of the power project would be in access of $10 billion, up from a proposed budget of $8.335 billion.
Meanwhile, the termination and remediation costs would be approximately $1.8 billion.
In its findings, the panel also notes that suspending the project and restarting it in 2024 would cost at least $3.6 billion and is the least attractive of the three scenarios.
The province will now decide future of the project, according to minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Michelle Mungall who stated in a press release that the BCUC's findings are based on 620 written and 304 oral submissions from individuals and organizations, and thousands of pages of information.
“This will be an extremely difficult decision. We inherited a project that was advanced by the previous government without proper regulatory oversight, is now more than two years into construction, employs more than 2,000 people, and on which about $2 billion has already been spent,” she further stated, noting that a decision could be made by the end of the year.
The executive summary is available here: http://www.sitecinquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/11-01-2017_SiteC-Executive-Summary.pdf
