THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060489
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The city has received bids from contractors who want to build the Lake Gaston pipeline and is beginning the selection process.
If the contractors who appear to have offered the lowest bids are qualified, the remaining work will cost about $91 million, Director of Utilities Clarence O. Warnstaff said Thursday.
Construction of the pipeline was started four years ago, but was stalled by a court-ordered injunction that permitted only a few pieces of the pipeline, totaling less than a mile, to be built.
Last week, the injunction was lifted, allowing Virginia Beach to resume building the 76-mile pipeline. North Carolina and other pipeline opponents have vowed to continue their 12 1/2-year legal battle against the project.
Unless opponents manage to get another injunction, or overturn a federal agency's decision on appeal, construction of the pipeline will resume early next year, Warnstaff said.
First, city staff members must analyze the lowest bids, award and sign contracts, and allow contractors time to move equipment and workers to the construction sites.
The project has been divided into seven contracts: five to build the remaining 75 miles of pipeline, one to complete the pumping station at Lake Gaston, and another to install valves that will pump the water through the line.
On Tuesday, the city accepted bids for the five contracts. Thursday afternoon, contractors presented their bids for the remaining two contracts.
City engineers had estimated that the work would cost $102.8 million, but if the low bids prove acceptable, the work would be completed for $90.7 million.
John D. Stephens, Inc., a construction company from Stone Mountain, Ga., appears to be the low bidder for at least three and possibly four of the pipeline construction projects, Warnstaff said. The four contracts would be worth $66 million.
Garney Companies, Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., may receive the fourth contract, Warnstaff said, but he was not sure if that bid of $16.9 million addresses the city's needs.
Crowder Construction Co. of Morrisville, N.C., is the apparent low bidder for the pumping station, he said. Crowder, which would receive $12.4 million for the work, built the underground portion of the pump station at the lake.
Mideastern Builders, Inc., of Chesapeake, is likely to get a $3.4 million contract to build the pressure-controlling valve vaults, Warnstaff said.
Warnstaff said he expected his staff to take the rest of the month to analyze the low bids and make sure the companies are capable of doing the work as promised. He said he probably will be ready to ask the City Council to award the contracts next month. MEMO: PIPELINE CONTRACTS
The project has been divided into seven contracts:
Five to build the remaining 75 miles of pipeline.
One to complete the pumping station at Lake Gaston.
One to install valves that will pump the water through the line.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON PIPELINE WATER SUPPLY PLAN by CNB