Strabag wins wastewater contract in Toronto, Canada

Strabag has won a contract worth about €80m to build phase 2 of new integrated pumping station for a wastewater treatment plant in the Canadian city of Toronto.

The contract with the City of Toronto requires Strabag’s Canadian subsidiary to build deep concrete shafts, chambers and feeder tunnels for the pumping station, which will allow the underground transport of wastewater to the Ashbridges Bay treatment plant.

Strabag will build a total of 445m of tunnels and 153m of shafts to help the city manage downpours.

Located at 9 Leslie Street in Toronto’s east end, the Ashbridges Bay serves a population of about 1.5 million.

The plant, which started operating in 1917, has a capacity is 818,000 m³ per day.

Project manager Simon Köck said: “The pumping station is part of a larger infrastructure programme aimed at increasing wastewater capacity in the event of heavy rain and so improve the water quality of Toronto’s waterways and Lake Ontario.”

Austrian construction firm Strabag has been carrying out projects in Canada for 14 years.

The company built the Niagara Tunnel, a 10.1km-long water diversion tunnel with a diameter of 14.4m, using one of the world’s largest hard rock tunnel boring machines.

The tunnelling unit is currently working on a railway tunnel in Toronto which is anticipated to be completed in 2021.

Last month, Strabag secured a contract to design, build and commission the Hatta pumped storage power plant in the emirate of Dubai on behalf of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.

The contract requires Strabag to build a turbine shaft with a diameter of about 36m and a depth of almost 70m to house two Francis turbines with a power output of 250MW.