Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Can the Minister explain the Housing Corporation's rationale for halting construction on the nine-plex building in Fort McPherson? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The nine-plex in Fort McPherson was an interesting process, actually. We did have a contractor originally scheduled to complete it. There were some issues. We had to dissolve that contract. Then I entered into a negotiated contract with a local company, which fit the true definition of negotiated contracts in that it was about building capacity for the contractor and providing in the community, so we were really eager to actually begin that process.
The difficulty was that, in trying to do that negotiated contract, the contractor actually came back at more than double the projected budget that we expected it to be, so part of the negotiations to bring that price down was to look at cost-saving measures.
The contractor stated that it would be more expensive to actually have to build in the winter because of the additional costs, the additional costs to heat, power, et cetera, and so it was a negotiation that we would actually agree that they could stop the process during the winter months to actually be able to come closer to what we projected the budget should be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this is a problem that we constantly run into, having contractors underbid projects. Mr. Speaker, it's not the fault of the new contractor that just took on this project here, the reason being that the first contractor underbid this project by quite a lot. I would like to ask the Minister: when does the Housing Corporation expect that the Fort McPherson nine-plex will now be completed and opened to residents?
As stated, the projected budget that the Housing Corporation had estimated for the construction of that building was not based on a low bid. It was actually based on a cost analysis that is done for a building within each community that takes that into account. We are hoping that the building will start up again in April and that it will be done as soon as the contractor can do that. However, if the contractor wishes to build over the winter and can promise me that he will be able to do that contract within the negotiated contract price, then I am willing to allow the contractor to move forward.
That probably would have been possible if the department actually gave the contractor the price they were initially trying to get, which included all the costs for working through the winter months, but I will leave that there. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister give me other examples of when the Housing Corporation stopped construction through the winter months?
As stated earlier, this is an exceptional agreement that we made. This was a negotiated contract. We do set budget amounts when we put buildings out to tender. If we had gone with the normal contract procurement process where the bids are open to the public, then we would expect that the bids would have come in at a more reasonable figure, closer to our projected budget. We did make the exceptions because of the negotiated contract, and so therefore, because of the great discrepancy between the estimated amount and the amount brought forward to us, we had to look at ways that we could actually bring it in. I have 2,400 public housing units, 200 market housing units. I cannot go more than double the budget for any one complex, and expect to address the core need that we experience within the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will ask the same question because I did not get an answer there. Can the Minister give me an example or examples of other contracts ever put on hold during the winter months, like we are having in the case of Fort McPherson?
My understanding is that the Hay River hospital actually went through the same process and therefore did have to stop construction over the winter months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
