HENDRY COUNTY, Fla. — The back-and-forth continues between the South Florida Water Management District and the contractor hired, and later fired, to build a half-a-billion-dollar reservoir in Hendry County.
This week, the SFWMD sued the C43 Water Management Builders to “recover the added costs associated with completing the Project.”
The C-43 Caloosahatchee Reservoir Project will eventually store up to 55 billions of gallons of water to restore Lake Okeechobee’s natural flow in to the Everglades.
During the rainy season, when the Army Corps of Engineers releases water from Lake O, the reservoir can capture the releases.
In the dry season, the reservoir can release the water into needed areas.
The project will eventually cut down on toxic algae blooms in the Caloosahatchee estuary.
“Completing the Caloosahatchee (C-43) Reservoir Project remains a top priority for the South Florida Water Management District. The contractor failed to stay on schedule and chose not to make the necessary changes to get back on schedule and prevent further delays,” the water management district said in a statement.
“Florida taxpayers should not be on the hook for the additional costs now associated with completing the project, and we’ve taken action to recover these additional costs.”
The project broke ground in 2019 and was supposed to be completed by early 2024.
The water management district claims the builder was up to three years behind schedule and terminated the builder in late April.
In May, the construction company sued the water management district in Federal court for wrongful termination.
WMB claims it was decisions by the district that led to the delays.
“The District’s actions are unfortunately consistent with their history of ill-conceived terminations on this project and others,” the builders said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, Florida residents will bear the financial impacts of the District’s decision to wrongfully terminate WMB as the completion costs will greatly exceed the contract value that WMB locked in with its bid in 2019 prior to COVID.”
