By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
Due in large part to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East causing a huge spike in asphalt prices, the RM of Corman Park may have to spend over 30% more than what was initially expected for a road reconstruction project south of Saskatoon.
RM of Corman Park councillors voted unanimously during their April 28 meeting to approve an additional $225,000 for the Grasswood Road project and to award the tender to HJR Asphalt at a price of $896,324, including PST.
Director of Infrastructure and Public Works Hayder Lateef stated that as part of the 2026 Capital Budget, the RM was going to reconstruct Grasswood Road from 0.040 kilometres west of its junction with Highway 11 to 0.820 kilometres west.
Four bids were received for the project, ranging from the lowest bid submitted by HJR Asphalt to the highest bid of $990,765.50.
Lateef noted that the RM had originally expected to spend $154,713.86 on engineering fees in order to have Stantec provide design and construction administration services.
However, HJR estimated that the project would only take eight days to complete as opposed to the original 25-day construction timeline, so the RM would be saving money in that regard.
That said, the bid from HJR still exceeds the project’s original budget by $180,708. As well, administration believed that a contingency fee of $44,186.20 should be put aside to cover unforeseen costs.
So why was the RM so off the mark in its budgeting? The big reason, according to Lateef, is that the war in the Middle East has caused oil prices to skyrocket, and subsequently, asphalt prices have also increased by 14% to 30%.
Though the impact was smaller, an additional 50 metres of road reconstruction was also added on to the project due to surface failures on the west side of the nearby railway crossing. The total reconstruction now covers about 800 metres of Grasswood Road.
Administration recommended against cancelling the project, as Grasswood Road is in poor condition. Instead, the additional $225,000 could be funded through cost savings on other projects.
For instance, the paving of Township Road 394 has also been tendered, but came in under budget by a full $158,651. There could also be other savings on equipment tenders that haven’t been awarded yet, and if those do not come through, then the money could come from the Road Infrastructure Reserve Fund.
Division 5 Councillor Arthur Pruim asked Lateef to explain how Grasswood Road could come in so much higher than expected while Township Road 394 could be so much under budget.
“I would say the main difference is that 394 was tendered earlier in the year before the conflict in the Middle East began,” Lateef said, adding that a few months seems to “have made that much of a difference in terms of where their budget came in at.”
Lateef also presented the possibility of not advancing with some projects, such as the design work on Tamke Road or the extension of the south walking path.
Division 3 Councillor Lyndon Haduik said the RM should never cancel a road project, noting that construction costs only go up, never down.
While he didn’t oppose moving ahead with the project, Pruim took exception with the proposed $154,000 in consulting fees, wondering why the RM didn’t have the in-house expertise to handle oversight of this venture.
“I guess what bothers me…is that we could be doing a lot more projects if we weren’t (paying) a whole bunch of consultants,” he said. “I want to get to the point where we’re not continuously throwing money at consultants.”