Wharf upgrades for new Bell Island ferry $4M over budget

Wharf upgrades to accommodate the MV Legionnaire are now $4 million 58 per cent over budget.

CBC News has learned that the total bill for work in Portugal Cove original budget: $3.8 million and Bell Island $3.1 million now totals $11 million.

• Wharf upgrades for new Bell Island ferry over budget

"The rock structure and that sort of thing, there had to be a little more blasting, and these things," Transportation and Works Minister Al Hawkins told CBC News on Wednesday.

"We ran into some costs there."

Expected to be done in early January

The work in Portugal Cove is still not finished. Hawkins couldn't say when it would be finished, butsaidcosts are not expected to rise any higher.

It's like the star in the east. It's like the birth of Jesus Christ.- Teresita McCarthy

"We're still trying to finalize that," he said.

"It's been over a year now trying to get all those repairs done. We're anticipating it'll be early in January to have that completed."

All of the changes that had to be made on the Legionnaire's sister ship, the problem-plagued MV Veteran, have already been done on the Legionnaire, said Hawkins, and considered work doneunder warranty by Damen Shipyards.

• Problem-plagued Fogo ferry not a lemon, says Damen Shipyards

The government is still in discussion with Damen over compensation for the amount of time the Veteran has been out of service.

'Homework' was not done

Hawkins cited poor planningon the part of the previous Progressive Conservativegovernment as the reason the wharfs were not ready in time to accommodate the larger ferry.

• MV Legionnaire docks in St. John's after months of delay

"You would normally think that if you're having a vessel to come in service, that all of your homework would have been done," he said.

Hawkins wouldn't give a firm date for the ferry's first run, and estimated it would be some time in January.

'Waiting with bated breath'

When it does come into service, expectations among the Legionnaire's future passengers are to put it mildly high.

"It's like the star in the east. It's like the birth of Jesus Christ," a laughing Teresita McCarthy told the St. John's Morning Show on Wednesday.

McCarthy, Wabana town councillor and chairwoman of the Bell Island Ferry Users committee, said it's impossible to explain how important the new ferry is to Bell Island.

I'm living with anticipation that everything's been ironed out.- TeresitaMcCarthy

Just the anticipation of the new ferry has sparked a flurry ofconstruction in the community, she said.

"We now have five new homes that are being constructed. We have a new business that's getting ready to start up," said McCarthy.

"The people of Bell Island have been waiting with bated breath using the Flanders, which is our godsend, but is part of an aging fleet."

McCarthy noted the new ferry is arriving on the heels of the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Bell Island mine.

"I think that, at the end of the day, you will see a growth on Bell Island, and that is my hope, that we haven't witnessed in probably 50 years," she said.

'People are going to be very pleased'

She hasn't been on the Legionnaire but has been on its sister ship, the MV Veteran.

"It was an extraordinary day. I think our people are going to be very pleased with the new boat," she said.

She's optimistic that the troubles experienced by the Veteran will have helped identify potential problems with the Legionnaire.

"I think that whatever bugs were in the design, they've probably managed to get them out of the Legionnaire before it left Romania," she said. "I'm living with anticipation that everything's been ironed out."