The City of Meadow Lake’s ongoing east side infrastructure project could move further along this year than originally expected. During the regular meeting of Meadow Lake city council held last Tuesday (April 7), a decision was made to award the contract for the 2026 east side infrastructure, water and sanitary construction to GeeBee Construction of Kipling, SK. Meanwhile, administration was also directed to engage Associated Engineering Ltd. to evaluate the cost and schedule implications of extending the scope of the project subject to the available budget. “Yes, council awarded the tender for the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) east side infrastructure to GeeBee Construction,” mayor Merlin Seymour confirmed with Northern Pride.

The matter of awarding the tender was initially discussed by council during the in-camera or private portion of the meeting, with the actual motion to award the tender tabled and voted on in open council. “They (GeeBee) have done some of the project a few years ago, and were very happy with the job they did,” Seymour added. “GeeBee came in at the lowest bid for this portion of the overall project. The bid was less than the budgeted amount, so our public works manager will look into the option of increasing the scope of work or if we can divert the ‘leftover amount’ to something else.” GeeBee Construction’s bid came in at $687,288.10, which is significantly lower than the $836,18 bid from Kelsey Pipelines and the $1 million-plus bids put forth by Triple M Daylighting, Union Construction, Suer and Pollon Mechanical, and BYZ Enterprises.

In his official recommendation to council, Hasan Akhtar, the city’s director of public works, stated the east side infrastructure project has been an ongoing, multi-year capital initiative aimed at replacing aging and lower capacity water and sanitary sewer infrastructure in the east side of the city, supported in part through the DMAF. “The 2026 phase was formally scoped and tendered following council’s approval of a $1,069,010 budget for the 2026 construction season, inclusive of all associated expenditures such as engineering, design, tendering, construction, quality assurance, and contract completion,” Akhtar noted.

The original 2026 construction scope included approximately 275 linear metres of potable water main replacement and 270 linear meters of sanitary sewer main replacement, with associated service connections and site restoration, along 7th Street East between 4th Avenue East and 5th Avenue East, as well as along 4th Avenue East between 6th Street East and 7th Street East. “The favourable bid results have produced an estimated remaining budget of approximately $214,240.00 depending on final PST calculations and contingency drawdown,” Akhtar continued. “Council may wish to consider directing administration to evaluate the extension of the project scope to fully utilize the estimated budget remaining. The recommendation is to add the final segment of 4th Avenue East, connecting 7th Street East to the existing intersection at 7th Street East, to the project scope.” The continuation of the east side infrastructure project allows for the renewal of aging and lower capacity water and sanitary infrastructure in that part of the community, improving service reliability and reducing the risk of infrastructure failure for nearby residents.