Prince George, B.C.- The City of Prince George has issued a request for proposals for a design build package for a new drainage plan for River Road.

The project is viewed as one of the plans to mitigate future flood or high groundwater problems. 

The project calls for 3.2 kms of drainage pipe and a system of pump chambers.

Prospective bidders are invited to take part in a special meeting later this week to look at details of the project. 

There are two things about this project that are critical. 

1.      The price tag cannot exceed $2 million dollars as that is how much Emergency Management B.C. has allotted for the project.

2.      A substantial amount of the work must be completed by February 27^th.

The City’s engineers say the project can make a lot of progress   this fall as normally the groundwater is low in the fall and winter. The construction materials are readily available so there shouldn’t be any delays in the delivery of materials.

The City is hopeful the construction of a future set back dike would complement this drainage system so that in the event of a future flood event, groundwater will be pumped from the subdrain and discharged over the dike.

This is the kind of project the Minister in charge of Public Safety, John van Dongan, wants to see. His Ministry denied a request for further funding for detailed study on gravel extraction from the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers, saying there has been enough study. He wanted the city to proceed with the application to the Federal Government’s department of Fisheries and Oceans. The City’s General Manager of Operations, Bob Radloff, says the  DFO has told the City exactly what needs to be done, and that is why there was an application for funding for the detailed report the DFO requested.

Prince George City Council will be asked to give final approval to the project at their first Council meeting in November.