Long-planned upgrades to the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant should begin next summer.
The plant — which a 2022 study found needs rehabilitation to 86% of its entire structure — is slated for a major overhaul over the next several years, with much of the facility’s equipment to be removed and replaced.
That rehabilitation work is on schedule to go out to bid by the end of April 2024, with a notice to proceed hopefully issued by June, said Ramzi Mansour, director of the Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management.
Construction work is estimated to take about three years.
Mansour said the bid documents for the project have been modified in order to attract additional interested parties. The project had previously gone out for bid earlier this year, but only received a single proposal by May. That proposal was from Nan Inc. to complete the job for $177 million.
“That was about $73 million above the county estimate for the project,” Mansour said, setting the estimated price tag at about $104 million.
While Mansour said he can’t predict the condition of Hawaii’s construction market next year, he said modifications to the language in the bid package, as well as some changes to the project itself, should make the second bidding process more successful.
Those changes to the project, Mansour said, include shifting aspects of its second phase — such as improvements to the facility’s secondary waste treatment equipment — into the first phase.
The Hawaii County Council’s Finance Committee voted last week to approve a bill that would issue a general obligation bond totaling $187 million, $100 million of which would go toward the Hilo wastewater plant’s rehabilitation, although county Finance Director Deanna Sako said at the time that some of the $100 million also could be directed toward other wastewater facilities around the island.
Mansour said the county also has applied for state revolving funds to help with the Hilo plant. Meanwhile, the project still needs to undergo an environmental impact review.
“Our priority number one is to get this out on time,” Mansour said. “There’s only a handful of contractors in the state who can do this kind of project, and we hope we can get one of them onboard.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.