State of emergency finally lifted at Halifax crane collapse site but still no word on cost

A work crew using two hydraulic cranes and a team of welders in a suspended cage remove two long pieces of the neck, or front jib, that dangled from the roof of an apartment building under construction just off Spring Garden Road on Thanksgiving weekend. The crane was downed by hurricane Dorian on Sept. 7. - Stephen Cooke / File

The crane’s gone, and the localized state of emergency in downtown Halifax is lifted but the province still couldn’t offer a cost estimate of the cleanup or say exactly who’ll be footing the bill.

The end of the evacuation order announced Monday afternoon allows businesses on South Park Street to finally reopen and residents from 21 units at the Trillium building to return to their homes.

Duff Montgomerie, deputy minister at the Department of Labour and Advanced Education, said the decision to lift the state of emergency was based on the findings of two independent engineering reports on the site where a 150,000-pound crane collapsed into an apartment development during hurricane Dorian on Sept 7.

The stop-work order on the site has ended except for the top three floors of the building. It's also been turned over to the developer Wadih Fares, who could not be reached for comment. The developer is required to submit a remediation plan for department approval that addresses the most damaged portion of the Olympus building before construction can resume on the upper floors.

Meanwhile, Montgomerie said the department is conducting a review into the cause of the crane’s collapse, which will decide who’s responsible for paying for the cleanup. He said the investigation would also include a price tag for the cleanup. But Montgomerie wouldn’t estimate the cost or when the final investigation report might be finished.

"Once the Occupation Health and Safety investigation is in, that will inform government in next steps in seeking reimbursement for the costs," said Montgomerie. "The report would be a guide for us, that will be the result of an expert overview of the situation."

He couldn’t say for certain whether taxpayers would be footing the bill.

"In the long run, I can’t answer that question."

John Traves, director of legal, insurance and risk management services for Halifax Regional Municipality, also said the crane collapse has resulted in damage to municipal infrastructure, but that a cost estimate hadn’t been calculated.

But Traves said that the municipality would be looking to be reimbursed. South Park Street has been closed since the crane’s collapse but Traves said the roadway would be open to two lanes by Tuesday at 7 a.m. Repaving on the street would be completed in the next three to five days.

In early October, Finance Minister Karen Casey and Premier Stephen McNeil said the province would be attempting to provide residents and business owners affected by the incident by seeking funding through the federal financial disaster assistance. But the federal government has yet to guarantee any money. The premier has also pledged that the cleanup money would be recovered through insurance claims against the developer and the crane owner, Lead Structural Formwork Ltd.

Opposition parties have hammered the Liberal governments over the lack of transparency on the file. Tory Leader Tim Houston said the file has been mismanaged with four different departments being involved in the crane cleanup.

"There are four ministers involved, no one feels responsible, nobody feels accountable," said Houston. "They’re all just pointing their fingers every which way. That’s still as true today as it was as when we first identified this as a major problem.

“The fact that they won’t be forthcoming on the cost, it's just another example of how this government likes to hide information from taxpayers.”

Meanwhile, the displaced business owners and residents have been pushing for compensation. The premier has to sit down with them and listen to their concerns, said Houston.

"They’ve held the residents and business owners at arm's length, they haven’t been honest with them and they haven’t been forthcoming," said Houston. "The first thing that needs to happen is an honest discussion about how this unfolded and the impact that this has had on those residents and business owners."

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