Metro Vancouver seeking $3.5B in federal funding for sewage plant and housing

Metro Vancouver Regional District seeking $3.5 billion in federal funding for sewage treatment plant and affordable housing

Metro Vancouver Regional District headquarters office at Metrotown in Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Metro Vancouver Regional District is calling on the Government of Canada to allocate $3.5 billion in new funding towards its infrastructure and affordable housing projects.

The vast majority of this federal funding, about $3.3 billion, would go towards covering 33% of the estimated total $10 billion cost of building the new Iona Island sewage treatment plant near Vancouver International Airport. This total cost would be spread over multiple phases of the construction project through 2039.

Over the interim period to cover the first phase of work currently under construction, the regional district is seeking $250 million from the federal government to cover 33% of the facility’s initial $750 million cost. The provincial government and regional district have already each committed to cover $250 million for the remainder of the first phase cost.

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The first phase of preparatory ground foundations work is expected to reach completion in 2026, at which point major construction activities can begin.

“Our main request is that the federal government contribute one-third of Phase 1 funding for the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Project, which is the largest infrastructure project in Metro Vancouver’s history,” said George Harvie, the chair of the regional district’s board of directors, and the Mayor of Delta, in a statement.

“Metro Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia have each committed their $250 million share, and we are urging the federal government to also support this essential project.”

According to the regional district, the new sewage treatment plant, which is a complete redevelopment and upgrade of the existing facility at the location, is needed to serve the region’s growing population. It will mainly serve the city of Vancouver, which accounts for most of the facility’s sewerage catchment area, supporting 750,000 existing residents, plus future growth of about 170,000 additional residents.

Footprint of the new replacement Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. (Metro Vancouver Regional District)

Preliminary artistic rendering of the new Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant and area ecological improvements. (Metro Vancouver Regional District)

The extent of the plant’s design and resulting cost is also due in part to federal requirements.

The federal government adopted a law in 2012 that requires a minimum of secondary treatment for sewage treatment plants, with this standard to be met by no later than the end of 2030. Secondary treatment removes organic matter in the sewage.

However, based on the new timeline accounting for the construction challenges, the new Iona facility will not begin its operations of secondary treatment until 2034 at the earliest — four years after the federal deadline. Construction on the new replacement facility can only begin after ground improvements on the river delta are completed.

The second part of the regional district’s federal funding request is $206 million for new affordable housing projects led by Metro Vancouver Housing, including $166 million in financing and $40 million in forgivable loans. Over the next 10 years, the regional district is planning to spearhead the creation of 2,000 new affordable homes, which is a strategy that has already received $158 million in funding from the provincial government.

“Without support from the federal government, regional infrastructure cannot keep pace with population growth. We call on the federal government to ensure that Metro Vancouver and its residents receive a fair share of federal infrastructure dollars,” continued Harvie.

The funding request comes just weeks after the regional district rejected the federal government’s recommendation to delay the timeline for implementing new development cost charges on new building developments, which will have an impact on the cost of construction. The revenue from the new development fees will go towards covering infrastructure project costs, including the Iona facility.

This also adds to the growing number of competing major requests for new federal funding on other initiatives, priorities, projects, and strategies from other regional entities and individual municipal governments in Metro Vancouver, and the provincial government.

TransLink and its Mayors’ Council have been calling on the federal government to expedite the annual permanent federal transit fund for supporting expanded and improved public transit infrastructure. TransLink’s 10-year, $20 billion priorities between 2025 and 2035 are unfunded, and the public transit authority is forecasting a cumulative $4.7 billion revenue deficit between 2026 and 2023 before accounting for any of these expansion project costs.

Construction on the SkyTrain Expo Line extension from King George Station to Langley Centre is expected to begin in 2024. The provincial government is covering $2.48 billion of the $4 billion cost of the project, with the federal government coming in with $1.3 billion.

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