Burnaby Coun. Colleen Jordan said it's been five years of back and forth letter writing with the province, and she's still no closer to solving the mystery of the missing breakdown costs associated with the 2006 business case for the Evergreen Line.
In 2008, city staff raised the alarm over the stark differences between TransLink's 2006, The Case for the Evergreen Line, report and a business case published only two years later - not only were the numbers different, but the earlier case called for Light Rail Transit technology over a SkyTrain line.
The 2006 case from TransLink recommended light rail and projected the cost at $0.97 billion. But following that report, the Evergreen Line went under the provincial government's jurisdiction, and in 2008, the province and TransLink came up with a report recommending a SkyTrain line into Coquitlam connecting at Lougheed Town Centre - then the price estimate went up to $1.25 billion.
The 29 per cent cost escalation was never given an explanation, so council wrote to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for one in 2011.
When council asked about the breakdown costs for the light rail technology from the 2006 case, the response was surprising.
"They lost it," she said.
"TransLink lost it. I still can't believe it."
Kevin Richter, then assistant deputy minister of the infrastructure department, responded one year later.
"TransLink did an extensive search for this information but was unable to locate the breakdown of costs associated with LRT technology from the 2006 business case," Richter stated in his May 30, 2012 letter to council.
He said the increased cost from the 2006 case was due to the construction cost start for 2007, while the 2008 case was based on a 2010 start.
"The 32-month shift in an overheated construction market created an escalation of costs that significantly contributed to the overall costs of construction," Richter stated.
Council had also approached the auditor general but was told the Evergreen Line was a TransLink project, and he only scrutinizes provincial government spending, according to Jordan
"The auditor general said, 'Nope not our authority, only the province,'" Jordan explained. "So we never thought to give this to him, but then when he came out with this audit this spring we said, 'Oh wait a minute, he is looking at TransLink now.'"
This past spring, the auditor general reviewed the Evergreen Line's reports.
The auditor's report stated that while the decision for the line was ill-informed, it was the best option.
"It's very complicated stuff," Jordan said. "It leads to pricing, project costs and all sorts of decisions.
This month, the acting auditor general Russ Jones wrote back to council, stating that his office was also unable to obtain TransLink's detailed support for the 2006 business case.
"The scope of our work was limited to the information provided for decision making, in support of decisions made in 2008 and 2010," Jones states in his June 5 letter. "Since the work done in support of TransLink's 2006 business case had been superseded by the joint trans-portation/TransLink analysis, its unavailability was not relevant to the audit scope."
Jones further states that his letter "closes the matters raised."
But, it's far from over for Jordan.
"The 2006 numbers don't jive with the 2008 numbers. Were they the right numbers or did 2008 have the right numbers? That's what we've been trying to get to the bottom of," she said. "I'm not going to let it go. It's only been five years, why let it go now?
"It's a couple hundred million dollars . it needs to be explained. It's only fair."
Jordan noted that she hasn't had the chance to speak with her colleagues on what to do next. She said council could present the issue to the official opposition to try to get the discrepancy raised in the legislature. When the NOW asked after the 2006 business case from TransLink, the transit authority said it was a provincial issue and they did not comment.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said the 2006 case was reviewed by the auditor general.
Evergreen Line construction has started and its projected cost is $1.43 billion.
